Season Three of The Vampire Diaries
by Leahlovessalvatore124
Summary: Elena denies her feelings for Damon resulting in an unseen passion.Jeremy suffers as his dead ex-girlfriends return with more than a few secrets and Stefan turns nasty resulting in dreadful consequences for Bonnie.Story set after 2x22 Damon gets cure.
1. Chapter 1  Sunshine and Buttercups

**A/N:**

**Hey guys,**

**This is my first story so I hope you enjoy it! I have so many chapters to come so if you could please review and I'll update straight away. Disclaimer: I own nothing, I do not own the characters etc. Rated T.**

**The story is set after 2x22 – Leahlovessalvatore124 xx.**

Chapter one – Sunshine and Buttercups

"No. There must be some kind of mistake. He wouldn't leave unless he knew Damon was safe."

Elena denied.

"Oh, he had a good idea that he would survive, alright. He had the damn cure tested right after he bit me," She smirked. "So it looks like his whole world doesn't revolve around you after all," Elena's forehead creased.

"Your world isn't all 'sunshine and buttercups', Elena. Here's some advice. Love sucks."

Katherine raised her eyebrows at her, flipped her hair, the air stirred around Elena and suddenly she was gone.

Damon propped himself up on the pillows as he lay feverishly on his bed. He still had a pasty complexion, but even Elena was starting to notice that he was looking even the slightest bit better. She was frozen. Frozen on the inside, on the outside everything so numb she could hardly feel her heart breaking. Damon reached towards her and pulled her onto the bed. He took her into his arms, and his warmth and love for her thawed her frozen bones. She felt dead inside as she leant her head against his chest. He kissed her forehead and closed his eyes as he rested his chin on her hair. She felt tears brimming in her eyes and she let a few fall, but she found that the grief made her weak. She didn't have the energy to cry. But what she wanted more than anything right now, was to be loved, and she didn't resist when Damon eased them both under the sheets and covers. They didn't do anything much but hold onto each other, because whenever the world was slipping away from her, she needed something familiar to cling onto, to feel safe. Damon was her shelter, and in that moment, during the horrid maelstrom of sorrow she was feeling, she found it surprising that yes, she did feel loved and she did feel safe.

"V..viki..Anna?" Jeremy looked at his two dead ex-girlfriends, trying to decipher whether or not he was crazy.

"Oh hey Jer, thanks for forgetting us." Vicki spat and smiled slyly like a cat as she started circling around him like a shark stalking its' prey.

"Yeah, and how come witch is your new flavour of the month. Traitor." Jeremy saw a flicker of something mixed with envy flash in her eyes as she joint Vicki with the stalking. Jeremys' face blanched. He was sure he was dreaming. He pinched himself quickly and felt a pang of pain in his arm. This was no dream, yet it felt like a nightmare. Both girls reared towards him in an uproar, fangs bared, eyes scarlet, and the veins beneath their eyes stood out in sharp red jagged lines.

"Come closer. Let me bite you, then we'll see if this is a dream. By the time you realise you'll be **dead**." Vicki spat venomously.

Anna laughed wickedly.

"No." Jeremy finally came to his senses. They weren't good, they were exactly the opposite. At first he had thought it was a blessing. That two of the people he had cared about had been returned to him, but now he knew that they'd been watching him, that they'd become so bitter and vile that they had actually become poison. They couldn't stand the thought of him being happy with someone other than themselves that their hearts had turned black.

"What. Did you say?" Anna snarled.

"I thought vampires had extra sharp hearing." He retorted.

"Careful, Jeremy. You don't know how far you've got until you push someone like us over the edge." Vicki snapped. In a blur they had him cornered. He tried to run, but Anna snagged his ankle and sent him flying onto his bed. There was no escape as Vicki lowered herself into a press up position just above him. They were so close he almost felt their lips brush as she spoke.

"So unless you tell your sleazy little witch to back off, poor Bon bon may find herself in a spot of trouble." Her hair dangled over him for just a second as he inadvertently inhaled her scent. Spicy and musky at the same time, and the smell of her overwhelmed him. It re-awakened memories that he thought were buried deep inside of him and that would never return. The first time they'd met. Their first kiss..

He snapped out of his reverie quite quickly, as he felt Vicki leaning into him, almost moulding to his body shape, he found himself voluntarily leaning towards her, just like old times and how it used to be. Just before her lips stole his, he found her being wrenched violently from him and backwards by her hair. Vicki lay writhing in pain, wriggling on the floor in agony as Anna squeezed her neck firmly in an iron grip with both hands, stretched back her head and lunged like a snake, teeth bared, and bit savagely into Vicki's jugular. He heard wet tearing, and suckling sounds like a cockroach scuttling under wood. Vicki's hands extended trying to grapple the air like claws, trying to grab onto something to pull herself up and fight. Jeremy was frozen on his bed. Everything was happening so fast, but something shocked him out of his state. He had once loved both of these girls. He may not now, but he still didn't want anything to happen to them.

Jeremy leaped off the bed quickly, and even though she was attacking Vicki, he hesitantly pulled her into his arms. Her face was staunched scarlet, and her hair rubbed against his face as she tried to escape, when suddenly she realized where she was and what he was doing. Confusion crossed her features. She was in Jeremys' arms, and he was holding her. Just holding her. She couldn't have wished for anything more in that moment that felt so right. She leaned into him and pressed her face to his chest, and as her head grazed his chin she felt one solitary tear slide down her cheek.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, and disappeared through the open window.

"Anna," Jeremy looked back towards where she had just left and the curtains billowed and swayed in the breeze. He also looked at the t-shirt on him that she had clung to. The red stains, were hardly noticeable, the one thing that he wondered about was the smear of crystalline wetness that made tracks down his shirt and fell onto the face of the motionless girl. With a start, it was then that he remembered what he had accidentally forgotten while Anna was in his arms. _Vicki_.

**A/N:**

**Hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what stuff you want to see more of! There will be more Delena moments, and some awesome fighting between Damon and Tyler. There will be a few surprises xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	2. Chapter 2 Like a genie

**A/N:**

**Hope you like, here's some witchy business with Bonnie and a certain Salvatore. Please review they mean so much to me! Please let me know what you think and what you want to see more of Enjoy xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter two – Like a genie

Bonnie lay sound asleep on her king sized bed. She had to admit it. It was a luxury. One that she didn't need, but a luxury all the more. Her hair was splayed over her pillows in a mass of ebony curls, she was asleep, but the one thing that she wanted more than anything in that moment was to be wide awake.

A pair of jade eyes glinted vehemently like flints, in the vast darkness that surrounded her. The only thing that was clearly visible, was the outline of the figure in front of her. For an unknown reason she found herself stumbling towards it, somehow in a sleepy haze even though she was asleep. Bonnie felt and saw the air stir and whoosh around her, it whispered against her skin as it settled back into place, leaving the being with its back towards her. An eery chill crept across her, like the crooked hands of the dead running their fingers down her spine. She shivered, and at the same time wondered absently why she was here.

"Can I help you?" She said, merely trying to help and be polite. Although, her intuition was telling her to flee, escape, to go anywhere but next to this thing that radiated nothing but darkness and equated hell. 

The person cocked its head to the side as if listening for silent voices in the wind, and laughed bluntly. It was a dark sound, and the entire essence of it reverberated through her bones and into her very core. With a startled gasp, she recognised the sound, and tumultuously the eyes. It had once been a light hearted laugh, and so pure and fulfilled, that it could have symbolised light. However it had become bitter and twisted, and the laugh belonged to the body and the soul that was Stefan Salvatore.

She watched terrified, as he turned his face towards her. He looked like a demon. All in black. Face drawn and haggard. Eyes a hellish scarlet. And a sly smile that nearly cracked his face in two. Beneath the smile she saw his fangs protruding from his mouth, so quickly that she almost didn't see the crimson garnish that still stained them. She heard a distant click as they slid into place.

"Bonnie..Bonnie..Bonnie," He tutted. "There is so _**much**_ you can help me with."

She didn't like the sound of that. Bonnie felt disgusted. Stefan had always been the good brother. And now when she dared to look at him, all she saw was a black hole. A black hole that had swallowed up the old Stefan in its sweltering heat, that radiated nothing but hot, boiling evil. And it angered her.

"Seriously, you gotta stop rambling." She said with an eye-roll. It amazed her how cool she could sound when inside she was shaking. She watched his eyes flash menacingly and his nostrils flare as he battled with his temper.

_Deep down inside there's always gonna be some part of you that cares. _She thought. _And the guilt of it will eat away at you._

Then she realised she was wrong. He wouldn't feel ever again if he didn't want to, he'd switched it off.

He was in front of her instantly.

"I could have your life like that," He whispered darkly, and clicked his fingers. This time she kept her mouth shut. The dark red shadows were forming under his eyes. She knew he was serious. He wouldn't hesitate, because he was back to being a ripper."You will give..Elena..a message for me. Tell her that I'll be seeing her **verrry** soon."

Bonnie thought about this. Elena would want to see him so much. But his comment implied more than just a visit, and this worried Bonnie. Even though her best friend loved Stefan, she would know that it would be dangerous, and it would endanger what very little family and friends she had left, and losing them would crush her. Even Stefan would know that. She prayed that he wouldn't be that stupid as to do that to her. But deep inside she knew that she was the stupid one, asking for something that would happen of its own accord no matter what she prayed for.

She nodded. Bonnie would deliver the message.

"What? No conditions? No supernormal witchy do-dad?" He cocked a brow in disbelief.

"I have a question,"

"Ah, there it is," He quipped. He was sounding more and more like Damon by the minute.

"Your mind control has no affect on me, yet you are in my mind now?"

"Klaus. Original compulsion overrides nearly every supernatural law." Stefan answered, his voice suddenly emotionless.

"Thankyou, Stefan." She whispered. There was the tiniest part of her that felt sorry for him.

"Don't thank me," He spat. He was back to his usual self again. "I will do what I please when I please." He started to walk away, and Bonnie both saw and sensed the waves of anger rising off of him like a mirage in a heat wave. And she knew there must have been something else, but she wasn't particularly feeling like a genie and she wasn't in the mood for granting three wishes and what-not.

"No, you don't do what you want, because otherwise you would have asked me something else." Even in her dreams she could hear the other witches, and she heard them now telling her that playing with a vampire was a dangerous move. Especially playing with one like Stefan.

"Bonnie." He warned.

"Stefan." She chided. This would end badly for her if things went very wrong.

Slowly he faced her. Shallow light from an unknown place illuminated him. In that moment he looked like the devil personified, and the next words that he spoke she had not been expecting.

"I want you."

"Me?" Bonnie scoffed. This was not right. She didn't understand. Well, he was good looking and all, but to Bonnie he was just another friend. He would never be anything to her that what Jeremy was. For Stefan it had always been Elena. Her mind span in circles.

"We..need a witch," He whispered, his voice like black silk against her skin as he stalked towards her. His ringed hand traced her face and her hair without touching her, but she felt his presence almost batting like a butterflies' wings against her skin. Bonnies' face screwed up. It felt horrible. This was her best-friend's boyfriend. And now he was trying to seduce her because he needed her powers? No way. If she were Grams, Stefan would be lying on the floor dead right now. That was her problem. She was too soft. She slapped his hand away and she saw that same malignant flash in his eyes that she had once seen in Damon.

Bonnie felt her palms get hot.

"You have made your decision. And now I will make mine." When Bonnie moved backwards Stefan tried to follow her, she held her hands up towards the black sky, arms outstretched and began to chant. Stefan roared as he found himself unable to move. Flecks of spit frothed from his mouth as he tried to lunge at Bonnie who was too far out of his reach.

The sound of thunder and lightening clawed at the sky, and huge storm clouds rolled in. A hurricane of wind tore at Stefan violently, he felt himself being dragged backwards. Leaves swirled around them as Bonnie began to chant.

"_EGO scisco ut vos adeo mihi , lux , lucis , unda , air._

_Fire quod Terra exuro per pulvis haze per rusty rutilus is est tainted._

_For per obscurum is languishes , per Klaus sit acquainted._

_I scisco ut vos adeo mihi , lux , lucis , unda , air._

_Evil est flax quod is sapor meus burnished hair._

_Brush is ex ultra mihi permissum is perceptum suus dictata quondam more._

_Until nos opportunus iterum , insquequo nos offendo nostrum denique ustulo._

_Aer anhelo unto him , spiritus of letalis him key ut unlock Klaus's immortalis alica vox of goodness totus meus veneficus succurro him strive_

_Like a no in tela is mos peto abyssus_

_sullen etiam angelus , ut lacrima semita down vos face,_

_Salty ira mitis , amo sol solis basium vestri skin_

_Nothing planto vos vix plurrimi tunc cinis cineris blaze._

_Good pugna evil,_

_You pugna profundus intus."_

**( Translation :**

"**I ask that you come to me, light, water, air.**

**Fire and Earth burn through the dusty haze with rusty red it is tainted.**

**For with darkness he languishes, with Klaus he is acquainted.**

**I ask that you come to me, light water air.**

**Evil is sickly and it tastes my burnished hair.**

**Brush it from beyond me let it learn its lesson once more.**

**Until we meet again, until we strike our final score.**

**Air breathe unto him, the breath of mortal life.**

**Give him the key to unlock Klaus's immortal spell**

**By the power of goodness all my witches help him strive**

**Like a fly into a web he will go to hell.**

**Be sullen still angel, as the tears track down your face,**

**Salty anger ripens, like the sun kissing your skin**

**Nothing makes you scared the most then the ashen blaze.**

**Good battles evil,**

**You battle deep within." )**

"I'm sorry your humanity was taken from you. But I will not use my gift for the sake of a monster."

Bonnie yelled over the winds that screeched around them. With one final howl, Stefan collapsed into spasms as he fell onto the ground in silence. And with that, the dream shattered like a screaming mirror. The dream left Bonnie crying inside.

**A/N: The spell was in Latin by the way. Please review it means a lot to me to know what my readers think! Please carry on reading, let me know if you think it's bad or good etc xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	3. Chapter 3 At Peace

**A/N: This chapter is mainly about how Vicki and Jeremy's relationship has changed, and also how it has stayed the same. After this chapter there will be a whole Delena chapter and some Tyler/Damon! Please review and enjoy xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter three – At Peace

After carrying Vicki to the bathroom and gently cleaning her neck with a white cloth, he then took some wet towels and scrubbed the red mess from the carpet. He went back to check on her and let out a sigh of relief as her eyes fluttered and opened hazily as she coughed. Absently, Jeremy wondered _How could someone dead die?_

Vicki found herself lurching up from the bath, trying to stand, but she felt dizzy and her senses were muddled, and Jeremy pushed her slowly back down as she staggered and struggled to walk. Jeremy found himself cradling her head.

He felt her flinch.

"It's okay." He whispered, reassuring her, and at the same time reassuring himself.

Jeremy felt her restraint melt in his arms as he carried her silently to rest on his bed.

He let her put her head on his pillow and he lay next to her.

Vicki let her eyes slip shut. So many times she had dreamed about lying here with him since her death.

"What happened to us Jer? Where'd we go wrong?"

Jeremy felt his heart tug when she said his name like that, but he ignored it.

"Well. Right about when you tried to kill me." He said Jokingly. Vicki thumped him playfully, but when open her eyes glistened and her face looked sad. She turned her head away to hide from him and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He heard her sniff.

"Hey," Jeremy soothed. "It doesn't matter,"

"Yes," She croaked "Yes it does. If I hadn't been staked, you would be dead."

He shuffled towards her, cautious because she was so fragile.

"You couldn't help it." Jeremy insisted as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I could've stopped. Stefan was helping me, but no. Drugged up junkie Vicki had to go ignore him, and let Damon lead her astray on the human stuff." She wiped tears from her eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders, and he felt the pent up anger and tight knots that wrought them like iron. Jeremy once remembered seeing Anna like this, and after seeing the amount of it that she'd lost, he knew what she needed. Vicki needed blood.

Jeremy reached for the stake he always kept in his side-drawer and pushed the drawer shut once he had it.

Vicki's ears pricked up. She turned back to him curiously, and her eyes widened in terror as she flew halfway across the room and backed up against the wall.

"Please...no..I..don't want to die!" She sobbed as her hands shook.

"It's okay, Vicki. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you." He took the sharp end of the stake and pricked his finger. One drop of blood lingered on the pad of the finger and dripped down his hand as Jeremy made his way towards her. Cautiously, she sniffed the air and extended her tongue towards the wound and placed it on-top of it. Blood leaked from the cut and she drank it greedily, but was careful not to take too much as she remembered what had happened last time she'd drank from him.

A copper sensation exploded in her mouth. When she did, it was hard for her to pull back. She had never tasted something so refined as she licked the last remnants of the red wetness that had remained slick on her lips. She got a band aid from the top shelf in the bathroom. Vicki knew where everything was. And even if he'd moved something she would know because she'd been watching him.

When she returned to him she found him on his bed asleep with his eyes shut. Jeremy didn't move at all when she took the plaster and wrapped it around the slit on his hand. The vampire lay down with the human boy trying not to make the bed jolt and make him any less uncomfortable than he probably already was. Vicki kissed him once on the forehead, and even though she knew she had to be, she promised herself that she would be gone before the sun rose. She sighed. She was finally at peace with herself.

**A/N: So do you like it? Please review! The next chapter will be short – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	4. Chapter 4 Lips Smacking

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's some Delena moment's for you! Please review, 'cause reviews are like rewards or ice cream for me ('cause I love me some ice cream) ! There's also some Tyler/Damon stuff, I have thought of loads of arguments that they're gonna have in the future! Will try and do some Ric and Damon bromance xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter four – Lips Smacking

Elena awoke in the early morning in Damons' arms. Sun shone in steady beams through the window as she carefully untangled herself. She suspected Damon was awake even though he was silent. He looked so innocent and angelic when he was sleeping. This was the first time she had slept in Damons' bed with Damon. She didn't intend to do it again, although she scolded the part of her that sort of wanted to, and she almost felt like slapping herself. Elena felt like she'd betrayed Stefan. _Stefan. _Memories came flooding back, along with the knowing that she may never see him again, and so many feelings and emotions that she couldn't quite understand came rushing along with it. She clutched her side as a stabbing pain entailed her heart, and Elena let out a small gasp. Damon was beside her and checking her all over. He put his hands on her waist.

"I'm fine..really." She choked out. Breathless, Elena collapsed in his arms.

Damon smoothed the hair off of her face. His hand brushed her clammy forehead. Elena was overheating. Damon breezed effortlessly downstairs with her in his arms, and dabbed a wet towel around her face. _So beautiful_. He thought, admiring her flawless light almost-olive skin and plush rose coloured lips. Damon gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. Elena's lashes flickered like feathers touching the earth as her eyes opened dazedly.

"What..?"

"You passed out. You just need a little food and rest." Damon smiled weakly at her. She'd had him scared for a moment. His eyes widened as she took his hand in hers before squeezing it tightly for a second then letting it go, and stretching out her arms and legs. Elena got up too fast, but Damon was by her side lowering her back onto the couch.

"You will be the death of me Elena. Well, technically speaking." He gave her a quick wink and a signature smirk, then he went to make her breakfast.

Elena was about to rest her head on a pillow when her phone started buzzing like crazy. Elena blinked at the name and yawned before answering.

"Hi Care,"

"Hey, Elena. I tried calling you like fifteen times, I'm freaking out! Why didn't you call me? I thought you were dead or something." Caroline was just her usual cheery self, but Elena could tell she sounded tense and worried.

"Sorry, I uh..just sorta woke up. Please tell me everything's okay?" Elena wondered why she was calling, when Damon popped his head through the doorway looking suspicious and mouthing '**Elena Alert**', giving an answer to why she had been called. Elena rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at him. He dodged easily and Elena mouthed ' **Damn you** '. Damon just laughed and said "Been there, done that, bought the freakin' tote bag." before leaving the room.

"As long as you're okay everything is fine."

"I wouldn't say I'm perfect." Elena could hear her voice breaking, but she steadied it.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so insensitive. Truly, I am sorry about Stefan, Elena," She did sound torn up. "But, I have a plan, so meet me, at the grill, in about an hour. 'Kay?" Elena smiled at how Caroline had the optimism to brighten just about everyone's day. Well, everyone's apart from Damon's.

There was rustling and laughing from the other end of the phone. "Tyler, I'm talking to Elena!" Caroline giggled.

"Whoops." Elena heard him say in the background, and then there were sounds of lips smacking.

Damon came in with a plate of food.

"Get a leash for your dog." He said grabbing the phone. Elena made a reach for it, and Damon enjoyed seeing her attempts. Elena stole it back as she laughed a little and whacked Damon on the shoulder, watching him pretend to be hurt. She put it back to her ear.

"Sure, I'll see you there." She said.

"Good."

"And get a..er..leash for your vam.."

"Shut up mutt."

**A/N: Tee hee! I laughed loads when I was writing this! Please review xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	5. Chapter 5 PDA

**A/N: Okay, this chapter is about..something..that I can't tell you. It's a surprise, but what I will tell you is that the first episode of the third season is going to feature this event. Please review – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter five - PDA

Elena let Damon give her a lift to the grill, and she was surprised when she opened the door revealing that no one was there. No lights were on, it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing.

"Hey, Damon have you got a torch or somethi," She started, only to find out that he had somehow vanished into thin air.

"Great. Just a stupid human. With no good stupid eyes." She grumbled, feeling her way through the dark. Out of nowhere she got a feeling that she was being watched, and she shivered.

"Damon, if this is some kind of a joke I will seriously kick your ass." She wasn't kidding, and Elena had began to start feeling sorry for herself, when she felt a cool hand creep its way up her back. She let out a shriek and started to run, seeing a pair of eyes suddenly wink out at her from the darkness, and another twenty pairs that she could see the bodies to as lights flashed on, matched with a hearty "Happy Birthday!" from everyone.

Elena gasped and clapped her hands excitedly as she spun round to see so many of her friends and family, she felt touched that there were people who loved her. Damon crept up behind her with a glass of bourbon in his hands and gave her one of his smiles that melted her kneecaps and that secretly made her jellify. "No ass kicking is necessary..though I'd _lurrrve_ to see you try." Damon waggled his eyebrows at her, and he sped behind her when she tried to take a swipe at him. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, wishing that he could kiss her on the lips with a million kisses. Damon had decided that the ' death-bed ' kiss had just been because she felt sorry for him, but they would talk later anyway. He would make sure of it. Right now he was glad that she had just been in his arms, even if it had just been for a second, it was a second he would cherish, just like all the time with Elena he cherished. She tried to do the eye-thing just like he did, but she failed immensely and it left Damon choking on his drink as he chuckled like an idiot.

Elena knew that she was having fun. But she couldn't help but wish that Stefan was here so she could enjoy it with him. She felt tears starting to prick her eyes, but she took a deep breath, and she felt them go away. Elena had to be strong. For everyone. She owed it to them, for everything they'd done for her, she could at least be happy.

She smiled.

"Care, did you do all this yourself?" This time it wasn't an act. She really was amazed at she actually properly took in the sight around her. Garlands of fresh pink roses were twisted around the entrance and all of the doors and windows, leading to a massive terracotta banner tied with pink ribbons, reading '_ Happy 18__th__ Birthday Elena – Love Family & Friends '. _Nearly all the chairs and tables had vanished apart from a few that remained, and a makeshift dance floor was lined with hundreds of red and white coloured candles that flickered constantly. Petals were scattered on the floor and at the back of the Grill by the bar, and a DJ was situated on the main stage.

They carried on talking as people partied around them.

"No, it was mostly Bonnie." Caroline pointed to Bonnie who was making her way through the crowd of people wearing a lovely peach coloured cocktail dress embroidered with pearls and black patent kitten heels.

"Wow Bon, you look so pretty! I'm so glad you're here." She grinned, embracing one of her best friends.

"Well, someone had to light all the candles." The two girls laughed together, and in that moment it felt like old times before Jenna had died, and things hadn't been so hectic.

"Hey, are you forgetting me, sis?" Jeremy handed her a present as he linked hands with Bonnie and planted a kiss right on her lips. Bonnie closed her eyes wanting to live in the moment forever, and then she opened them again and started to kiss him back.

"Ew, PDA,PDA. May I please just cut in..you might wanna stop sucking face." Damon made his way towards Elena, and she saw Caroline's eyes darting to Damon and then back to her. Damon had helped too. Without no warning whatsoever, Elena jumped into his arms hugging him so tight that he could barely breathe the air that he didn't even need, and knocking him off guard. That was something he hadn't been expecting. For a second he thought he felt his heart beat again as he tried to remember every essence of it. When Elena finally released him, he was composed enough after a sip of bourbon for a one liner.

"Jeez Elena, now there isn't enough of me for everyone else." He smirked.

"Damon Salvatore. You so have a heart!" She teased, prodding him.

"I do not!" He spluttered, but there was no more time to carry on arguing, as Jeremy dragged Elena away, taking her to the back of the grill and to the left, leading her to the Women's Rest-rooms. She narrowed her eyes at her young brother.

"Just trust me and go inside." Sighing Elena pushed open the door, only to see the most gorgeous outfit she had ever seen. It was a short strapless dress in lilac silk, that had a deep purple ribbon tied at the waist, embellished with star-rubies. A pair of matching shoes stood propped up beside it.

"Jer, I don't know what to say. It's absolutely amazing! Where'd you get it?" Elena gasped, gaping at the dress as she trailed a hand down the soft fabric.

"I didn't." He smiled, sadly.

"Huh?" Elena didn't understand.

"Stefan did," The birthday girl's eyes widened, thinking he had somehow returned home for her birthday. "Damon found it when he was looking for some drink at the boarding house. He'd already got you a present before he.." His voice trailed of, seeing the look on Elena's face as it paled. Elena swallowed. Her hopes were crushed.

"Well, thank you for bringing it to me. And what are you doing in the girls bathroom's anyway? Get out of here!" She chided sarcastically as he left, setting the mood back to happiness. Elena wished she felt as happy.

**A/N: Yeah that's it! Elena's birthday is the event I was talking about, and Caroline will be organising the event. Also some time in the third season there will be an awkward shower scene between Damon and Elena, where he comes out naked and covered in bubbles when he knows she is there, putting her in a very awkward situation! I hope you liked that chapter, please review – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	6. Chapter 6 So Close

**A/N: Sorry! I know this chapter's really short, but there will bit the tiniest bit of bromance, and some Delena flirting! The next chapter is quite short too, but it's my favourite one that I've written so far, so I hope you will like it, 'cause Damon's gonna be doing some wolf crap! I know I keep asking, but please review – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter six – So close

Damon went to sit next to Alaric at the bar, feeling more than a little drunk, though he thought he wasn't.

"Why so glum chum?" Yep, he was drunk.

"Ah, I just wish that Jenna was here, you know. It would mean so much to her to be here for Elena." He frowned and downed his drink, walking away. Damon knew there was more to it then that, and he was about to go after him, but Elena stopped him in his tracks and he froze, astounded. She was breath taking. His blue eyes widened because she looked so sad.

"Hey, beautiful." He said tilting her chin up. Elena ducked her head and blushed. And he realised he already knew why she was unhappy. She was wearing something his brother had bought her, yet his brother wasn't here to see her wearing it. A spike of anger flickered in his mind.

"You know that was a lame pick-up line."

"I was being truthful." Damon gave her one of his smiles, and he saw her lips curl up even though he could tell she was trying not to smile.

"How about this then. Would you like to dance?" He said, bowing to her and taking her hand. Elena couldn't help but giggle as they went to the dance floor.

"I guess I owe you one, when I rejected you at the sixties dance." Damon cringed, then placed one hand on her waist and the other in her palm. Elena put her hand on his back as she managed to contain a shiver. She felt like her heart might burst right out of her chest, but she had no idea why.

"Well, I was pretty scary, and I still am." He joked, pulling a monster face, then returning back to normal.

"I'm not scared of you, Mr Salvatore." Elena insisted, hiccuping.

"Oh, you should be," He whispered darkly.

He felt her freeze.

"I do a **killer** tango."

Elena started laughing, but Damon remained deadly serious.

"And we are not going to stop until you beg." Then they were both laughing as he kissed her head, and twirled her around and then back into his arms again.

"I never knew you danced."

"There is so much about me that you are yet to find out." Damon chuckled and his sky-blue eyes looked inviting. _She was so close to him that their lips almost touched..._The music stopped, and Elena found herself being dragged from Damon and to the front of the stage, arm in arm with Bonnie and Caroline. She was about to escape to the back, when she saw Jeremy already blocking the way and tutting at her. She had never wanted a party, for the same reasons that she was going to have to mention in a minute, and also because she knew what her best friend's were going to make her do. And as they plopped her down onto a stall and thrust a microphone into her hand she was dreading it. The speech.

**A/N: You like? If you're hardcore Delena fans, I there might be something for you in the future..soonish. It's not a definite, but a maybe. Let me know what you want to see more of and I will dish it out! Please review – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	7. Chapter 7 Awkward Silence

**A/N: Hey guys! I have a lot of thank you's to say to everyone who put me on Story Alert, who were TheSandGirl, NightlyEvilTM, Cindyholland, HisGem and Danni54. Also to the people who put me on Favourite Stories List, xXSpreadTheLoveXx and Danni54 and Author Alert, Danni54. And a special thank you to Kat for my first review – yay! - you have all made my day and I really wasn't expecting this on my first story! Love you guys! Please keep reading – Leahlovessalvatore124 xxxxxxx.**

Chapter Seven – Awkward Silence

"First of all, I just wanted to start by thanking you all for coming tonight, and by saying how much it means to me having almost everyone that I love here with me. I say almost, because of Jenna, Mom, Dad, and even though part of me hates myself for saying it, Uncle John." Elena heard Jeremy snort and she continued.

"Caroline and Bonnie have the biggest hearts in the world. We've done so many amazing things together, and you've given so much for me, that there's nothing left to give. Jer, you are my brother and you are my rock. You have helped me stay strong and I would do anything for you. And Damon, given that I am more than a little drunk right now..you are so insanely funny and annoying that even though you drive everyone mad, whenever something is wrong, you are the only person who can make it just that little bit better. The same couldn't be said for my boyfriend, who didn't even turn up tonight!" Everyone stated clapping and cheering at that comment, there were a chorus of wolf whistles (especially from Tyler 'cause he was well..a wolf) and Elena smiled at Damon, then someone butted in.

"Don't I get to be mentioned?" Alaric joked, and everyone laughed. It had only been a joke, but Elena said something anyway.

"Ric. You are a teacher and a friend to me. Also the only person who's even come the slightest bit close to being like a father to me and Jeremy." Alaric was looking really happy, and there was an unmistakeable wetness in his eyes that he was trying to hide as he raised his bottle and Elena left the stage. Elena crept up behind Bonnie making her jump.

"You were amazing Elena! You didn't have to say that stuff about me and Caroline! Seriously, you didn't, 'cause you know how embarrassed we get!" Bonnie joked. Elena hadn't even realised Damon was standing next to her. He was sipping his drink, quiet for once, trying to disguise the awkward silence that Elena knew they would have to talk into some time.

Elena looked around at all the people she knew and loved. There was Matt, her ex boyfriend who she had forgotten to talk about in her speech, mainly because she hadn't really spoken to him in a while. He hadn't really been dealing very well with all the supernatural stuff. Then there was Tyler, looking like a loon bag. Elena snorted, watching him flail about his arms and legs on the dance floor with Caroline and a bunch of guys to 'If you wanna be my lover', by the Spice Girls.

"He dances like a moronic spider." She giggled, breaking the silence. Damon went to join her.

"Spider mutt, spider mutt. Does whatever a spider mutt does. Can he swing from a web? No he can't, he's a pleb, look out, here comes his furry butt!" He sang, as Tyler spotted them and with a wave started making his way through the crowd towards them with the gang.

"Play nice." Elena frowned, trying to muffle her laughter, nearly in fits.

"I'm playing _**amazingly**_ nice. I'm more than tolerant. I'm..what's the word?"

"Intolerant." She answered

"Yeah, that's it."

**A/N: I know that chapter wasn't one of my best, but things are gonna take a twist soon and hopefully the next chapter is gonna be like candy (yay candy) – hopefully darn-ishly good! If you want me to include anything in the story that you wanna see just say and I will try to include them xx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	8. Chapter 8 Knock, Knock

**A/N: Here's the chapter with the twist! Trust me you wont be expecting it! First of all, though, I just wanted to thank Flowersprincess16 for her review so thank you soo muchly! Please review and keep reading, here's some Damon and Bonnie – Leahlovessalvatore124 xxxxxxxx.**

Chapter Eight – Knock, Knock

Elena woke up the next morning at the Gilbert house. She didn't really call it home anymore. They say home is where the heart is, but for Elena the heart was dead. Sometimes she wondered why so many people she loved kept dying, but she would tell herself that it was just the way the world was, and she would defend the people she had left at any cost.

Stretching, Elena shuffled to the bathroom she shared with her brother, and was about to squirt some paste on her toothbrush when she noticed something odd. Her diary was lying next to the sink, wide open for all the world to see. She didn't remember leaving it there from yesterday. Elena scanned through the entry from last night.

_Dear diary,_

_I'm all over the place. My feelings, my emotions. Especially with Damon. But he's my boyfriend's brother. I've always been loyal, I've never cheated on anyone. Yet why does it feel so wrong when I'm with him?Duh, Elena, you kissed him once. One little kiss! That's all that it was. And it doesn't mean anything.. okay, it does mean something! I'm **not** being loyal. I'm being dishonest to Stefan and also to myself. Am I not thinking clearly, or is there something more?_

Elena felt the book slip out of her hands in realisation, only to soon pick it up again, placing it by her toothbrush. Even though her head was spinning, she still noticed the light brown envelope that had fallen out by her feet. It was blank, and she slid a nail under it, prising the thing open and pulling out a cream coloured piece of paper, unfolding as she read the all too familiar writing.

Tears of joy spilled down her cheeks as she ran into Jeremy's room and jumped on top of him. He needed to wake up, and fast.

"Jer, Jer, Jer...It's..it's.." She couldn't finish the sentence as her voice rasped off. Jeremy shot up, reaching for the iphone4 at the side of his bed, starting to hastily dial Damon's number, when Elena passed him the paper, indicating him to read it.

Dear Elena and Jeremy,

I know this must have shocked you, and I'm sorry, but no matter how hard I tried to resist I just couldn't miss your 18th birthday, and a chance to make both of you happy for at least a while. I'm in a good place where I am. I know it sounds silly to say it, seeing as I don't believe in heaven and all, but I really am. Mom and Dad would give you something if they could, but I'm afraid they're too far gone, but they send their love. They will wait for you and Jeremy for as long as they have to, and so will I. I'm sorry I wasn't always there for you, and I know I could have kept you safe from all of this if only I'd tried harder.

The witches have a message for Bonnie though. They are what got this here with the help of her Grams, so this is the price I must pay.

Jeremy paused as he turned the page over.

"Th..there's another page?" Elena stammered after clearing her throat. She was scared, yet somewhat relieved.

"Jenna said herself. There is a price, it's not like they would leave it out and end the letter there." He smiled gently and passed her the letter for her to read.

He is coming. He knows what he wants and he will take it. He will take you. You must stop him. The consequences, they are the Key.

So sorry, that we can't be there now, but we will forever be watching you. Nothing will happen to you as long as you know that you have each other. We will never let anything harm you we are your protectors.

All my love Jenna x.

Elena and Jeremy waited anxiously for everyone for arrive. But Elena suspected something was up with Jeremy. The usual person would just leave it. But with a life like hers, you couldn't just leave stuff.

"Jer, you're hiding something."

"I know." He whispered.

She was about to open her mouth to say something, when Damon came barging in.

"Knock, knock."

Caroline and Tyler came shortly after, followed by Alaric, and Bonnie carrying the grimoire that she took to every meeting just in case. They all took a seat at the table and Elena explained what was going on. Jeremy hardly even said two words, and Elena wondered why he was being so quiet all of a sudden.

"I had a dream a couple nights ago about Stefan, and he said that Klaus needed a witch." Bonnie said loud and clear, stunning even Damon to silence..well, for a while.

"And you somehow forgot to mention this _**becaaause**_?" He said.

"It was Elena's party. And it's her real birthday today. Do you know how bad I feel putting all this weight on her shoulders?" The lights flickered a little. Damon really got her blood boiling.

"Aw, save us the guilt trip and hop on a broomstick already."

"Go chew on a corpse." She hissed.

"Guys, stop. We're meant to be a team. Damon stop being an ass, and Bonnie, you might want to try to control yourself." They stopped, but instead gave each other death glares over the table.

Elena smoothed out the paper searching for a certain bit in the letter.

"It says here '_the consequences, they are the key_'. She continued. Alaric's head snapped up and so did Bonnie's.

"From when I was bringing Jeremy back." She explained.

"The witches said there will be consequences." Ric said, working out what the message was.

"And the witches are mentioned in the letter. It's connected. But what are the consequences?" Elena questioned, looking each of her group in the eye. When she got to Jeremy he started looking a little shifty, and turned his head away. He had always been a bad liar.

"Gee, is anyone hungry? I'm gonna go cook some food." He started walking towards the kitchen but Elena was blocking the doorway.

"Jeremy, spill."

**A/N: Thanks again, hope you liked it! The next chapter will be a cliffhanger – dun dun dun! Please review and I will thank you in the next chapter xxxx – Leahlovessalvatore124.**


	9. Chapter 9 Peckish

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's one awesome chapter with PLENTY of plot twists that I promised! Here's something you have not been expecting! I would like to thank csifan1 for adding me to Story Alert and Favourite Story, Barley821 for FS and DorkeyGurrl for FS! Really was expecting that so thank you soo muchos reviews are muchly appreciated, this chapter's for you guys 'cause you're soo awesome xxxxxx – Leahlovessalvatore124!**

Chapter Nine – Peckish

Stefan was having the time of his life. For once he felt free. He didn't understand why everyone thought Klaus was so bad. He had shown him this new way of life and they both gloried in it. Yes, he would turn up un-announced from time to time just to check he was still there, but obviously where else was he going to go? He was under compulsion and to be honest he didn't really care. He wasn't going to drink that horrid Vervain stuff. I mean, what was the point in stinging his own neck when he could sting other people's?

Yes, he was okay after that spell with Bonnie. He had healed, the wounds hadn't been that bad, Stefan had just needed to consume a hell of a lot of fast food. There was the hot waitress that'd kept eyeing him at the bar the other day, that not so tasty old man cleaner, and the fit blonde and a whole load of others. There were bodies in his room over flowing.

He was very peckish as he started pacing. Stefan was getting tetchy and impatient. Why wasn't room service here yet? He expanded his senses, and heard a shallow thudding of footsteps down the hallway. Stefan felt his face crinkle and transform into the monster that he was. Opening the door slightly, he stuck an eye through the crack of space, waiting for the fluttering heartbeat that quickened with every pace the vessel took, he licked his lips ravenously, until a little curly brown haired girl threw herself into his arms, sending the door wide open with his cover blown.

"I've lost my Momma. Please..I'm really scared..Papa went lookin', he never came back." She sniffed, burrowing her head into him. Stefan was using all of his strength, trying to fight his instincts. For he didn't know why, but he had no reason to kill her. He urged his canines back into place by his gums, but they wouldn't stay put. He closed his eyes for a second in concentration.

"What does she look like honey?" Stefan put on a sugar coated voice. He was one of the deadliest things she'd ever encounter and she didn't even know it. The vampire swallowed, his throat crackling dry.

The girl wiped her nose on his shirt.

"She's kinda pretty, with goldy hair up to here," The girl pointed to her shoulders. "And sparkly blue eyes..." Her voice trailed of when she looked at him with her deep chocolate ones and giggled, suddenly reminding him of someone he used to know..he couldn't think right.

"Your face is real funny mister!" His face was still red and crinkly, and she somehow thought it was some kind of joke.

A thought suddenly slapped him across the brain. Her mother was blonde.

"Can you give me a minute..."

"Nerika. Nerika Het." She said, suddenly looking amused for a reason Stefan didn't understand.

"Nerika, then I will help you, okay?"

Stefan dashed back inside, leaving the girl in the corridor, and started checking his victims. Then he saw her. There she was, lying in a twisted heap amongst the others, face an icy white, and hair that had once been as gold as sunrise, was now bleached white with terror.

"I can't help you. I'm really sorry, but I don't know anything." He smiled as he returned to the girl.

"Stefan, you do know. I know what you're hiding. I can smell them." Nerika turned on her heels and walked off leaving him dazed, but even when she was gone, the heat beat seemed just as close. Stefan looked around at the shabby hotel that surrounded him, and noticed a young woman hiding around the corner. She blushed.

"Mr Salvatore..?"

"Room Service?"

"Yes Sir."

"Right this way."

After eating, he put the body with the others, washed his face and changed his clothes, when he remembered something. The girl, Nerika. He'd only heard one heartbeat. One warm-blooded vessel, and that had been the spying woman. And she'd called him Stefan. He ran over their conversation in his mind, and he could have thought, no he was sure he hadn't mentioned his name, 'cause that was Klaus's rule number one: Tell no one.

The brown curls, the eyes..the laugh..it all made sense.

Stefan sprinted for paper and dug a pencil from his pocket, scribbling on the paper until he was finished. It was an anagram.

nerika het.

katherine.

Nerika Het was Katherine.

Katherine banged on the door worriedly looking down at herself. She was growing taller.

"MICHASA! OPEN UP!"

The door burst open from a gust of wind, that came from an ancient looking witch with caramel coloured hair sitting on the other side of the room, chanting.

"The spell reverse the seeds of time un sew un sewn again be mine,

alica ostendo sum sperma of vicis un sew un sewn iterum exsisto mei.

The spell reverse the seeds of time un sew un sewn again be mine."

Katherine felt a horrid creepy-crawly feeling running over her skin as she watched her waist expand and her upper chest balloon. Her hands and face got bigger, and it felt like her toes were walking in clown shoes as her feet got wider and longer. She let out her breath in a gasp when it was done, and she felt the feeling receding.

"Now for the hard part. Doing something," Katherine paused and coughed, hardly believing she was going to say and do this, 'cause it was true, she'd never done anything like it, she'd only ever saved herself, not anyone else. "doing something _**good**_."

She'd been spying on Stefan for a while, mostly by compelling others to do things for her, and that blonde woman that he'd eaten had been more than helpful. But that was the thing. Each time she got a new spy they got eaten. I suppose she couldn't really complain. She liked this Stefan. He was _**sexy**_.

Katherine had told Michasa that she couldn't be bothered to compel anymore people, but that wasn't the truth. The truth was that she'd wanted him to hold her in his arms again, to see him again, and to know that he was alright with her own eyes. That was why she'd been wandering the motel, listening eagerly to every conversation he'd had with Klaus, and virtually undetectable with no heartbeat.

She knew where she had to go this moment.

"Now..to Mystic Falls," She was most probably going to end up staked, and she was risking everything for Stefan, the brother she loved. "Michasa, we need to see Damon Salvatore."

**A/N: Mwaaaaaahahahaha...(coughs).so..what do you think? The next chapter's gonna be wild and someone will be making a grand return in a couple of ch's! I loved writing this, please tell me what you want, 'cause I don't know if I should carry on writing or not? Let me know and I will decide – Leahlovessalvatore124 – thanks again guys (: !**


	10. Chapter 10 What If?

Chapter two – Like a genie

Bonnie lay sound asleep on her king sized bed. She had to admit it. It was a luxury. One that she didn't need, but a luxury all the more. Her hair was splayed over her pillows in a mass of ebony curls, she was asleep, but the one thing that she wanted more than anything in that moment was to be wide awake.

A pair of jade eyes glinted vehemently like flints, in the vast darkness that surrounded her. The only thing that was clearly visible, was the outline of the figure in front of her. For an unknown reason she found herself stumbling towards it, somehow in a sleepy haze even though she was asleep. Bonnie felt and saw the air stir and whoosh around her, it whispered against her skin as it settled back into place, leaving the being with its back towards her. An eery chill crept across her, like the crooked hands of the dead running their fingers down her spine. She shivered, and at the same time wondered absently why she was here.

"Can I help you?" She said, merely trying to help and be polite. Although, her intuition was telling her to flee, escape, to go anywhere but next to this thing that radiated nothing but darkness and equated hell.  
>The person cocked its head to the side as if listening for silent voices in the wind, and laughed bluntly. It was a dark sound, and the entire essence of it reverberated through her bones and into her very core. With a startled gasp, she recognised the sound, and tumultuously the eyes. It had once been a light hearted laugh, and so pure and fulfilled, that it could have symbolised light. However it had become bitter and twisted, and the laugh belonged to the body and the soul that was Stefan Salvatore.<p>

She watched terrified, as he turned his face towards her. He looked like a demon. All in black. Face drawn and haggard. Eyes a hellish scarlet. And a sly smile that nearly cracked his face in two. Beneath the smile she saw his fangs protruding from his mouth, so quickly that she almost didn't see the crimson garnish that still stained them. She heard a distant click as they slid into place.

"Bonnie..Bonnie..Bonnie," He tutted. "There is so _**much**_ you can help me with."

She didn't like the sound of that. Bonnie felt disgusted. Stefan had always been the good brother. And now when she dared to look at him, all she saw was a black hole. A black hole that had swallowed up the old Stefan in its sweltering heat, that radiated nothing but hot, boiling evil. And it angered her.

"Seriously, you gotta stop rambling." She said with an eye-roll. It amazed her how cool she could sound when inside she was shaking. She watched his eyes flash menacingly and his nostrils flare as he battled with his temper.

_Deep down inside there's always gonna be some part of you that cares. _She thought. _And the guilt of it will eat away at you._

Then she realised she was wrong. He wouldn't feel ever again if he didn't want to, he'd switched it off.

He was in front of her instantly.

"I could have your life like that," He whispered darkly, and clicked his fingers. This time she kept her mouth shut. The dark red shadows were forming under his eyes. She knew he was serious. He wouldn't hesitate, because he was back to being a ripper."You will give..Elena..a message for me. Tell her that I'll be seeing her **verrry** soon."

Bonnie thought about this. Elena would want to see him so much. But his comment implied more than just a visit, and this worried Bonnie. Even though her best friend loved Stefan, she would know that it would be dangerous, and it would endanger what very little family and friends she had left, and losing them would crush her. Even Stefan would know that. She prayed that he wouldn't be that stupid as to do that to her. But deep inside she knew that she was the stupid one, asking for something that would happen of its own accord no matter what she prayed for.

She nodded. Bonnie would deliver the message.

"What? No conditions? No supernormal witchy do-dad?" He cocked a brow in disbelief.

"I have a question,"

"Ah, there it is," He quipped. He was sounding more and more like Damon by the minute.

"Your mind control has no affect on me, yet you are in my mind now?"

"Klaus. Original compulsion overrides nearly every supernatural law." Stefan answered, his voice suddenly emotionless.

"Thankyou, Stefan." She whispered. There was the tiniest part of her that felt sorry for him.

"Don't thank me," He spat. He was back to his usual self again. "I will do what I please when I please." He started to walk away, and Bonnie both saw and sensed the waves of anger rising off of him like a mirage in a heat wave. And she knew there must have been something else, but she wasn't particularly feeling like a genie and she wasn't in the mood for granting three wishes and what-not.

"No, you don't do what you want, because otherwise you would have asked me something else." Even in her dreams she could hear the other witches, and she heard them now telling her that playing with a vampire was a dangerous move. Especially playing with one like Stefan.

"Bonnie." He warned.

"Stefan." She chided. This would end badly for her if things went very wrong.

Slowly he faced her. Shallow light from an unknown place illuminated him. In that moment he looked like the devil personified, and the next words that he spoke she had not been expecting.

"I want you."

"Me?" Bonnie scoffed. This was not right. She didn't understand. Well, he was good looking and all, but to Bonnie he was just another friend. He would never be anything to her that what Jeremy was. For Stefan it had always been Elena. Her mind span in circles.

"We..need a witch," He whispered, his voice like black silk against her skin as he stalked towards her. His ringed hand traced her face and her hair without touching her, but she felt his presence almost batting like a butterflies' wings against her skin. Bonnies' face screwed up. It felt horrible. This was her best-friend's boyfriend. And now he was trying to seduce her because he needed her powers? No way. If she were Grams, Stefan would be lying on the floor dead right now. That was her problem. She was too soft. She slapped his hand away and she saw that same malignant flash in his eyes that she had once seen in Damon.

Bonnie felt her palms get hot.

"You have made your decision. And now I will make mine." When Bonnie moved backwards Stefan tried to follow her, she held her hands up towards the black sky, arms outstretched and began to chant. Stefan roared as he found himself unable to move. Flecks of spit frothed from his mouth as he tried to lunge at Bonnie who was too far out of his reach.

The sound of thunder and lightening clawed at the sky, and huge storm clouds rolled in. A hurricane of wind tore at Stefan violently, he felt himself being dragged backwards. Leaves swirled around them as Bonnie began to chant.

"_EGO scisco ut vos adeo mihi , lux , lucis , unda , air._

_Fire quod Terra exuro per pulvis haze per rusty rutilus is est tainted._

_For per obscurum is languishes , per Klaus sit acquainted._

_I scisco ut vos adeo mihi , lux , lucis , unda , air._

_Evil est flax quod is sapor meus burnished hair._

_Brush is ex ultra mihi permissum is perceptum suus dictata quondam more._

_Until nos opportunus iterum , insquequo nos offendo nostrum denique ustulo._

_Aer anhelo unto him , spiritus of letalis him key ut unlock Klaus's immortalis alica vox of goodness totus meus veneficus succurro him strive_

_Like a no in tela is mos peto abyssus_

_sullen etiam angelus , ut lacrima semita down vos face,_

_Salty ira mitis , amo sol solis basium vestri skin_

_Nothing planto vos vix plurrimi tunc cinis cineris blaze._

_Good pugna evil,_

_You pugna profundus intus."_

**( Translation :**

"**I ask that you come to me, light, water, air.**

**Fire and Earth burn through the dusty haze with rusty red it is tainted.**

**For with darkness he languishes, with Klaus he is acquainted.**

**I ask that you come to me, light water air.**

**Evil is sickly and it tastes my burnished hair.**

**Brush it from beyond me let it learn its lesson once more.**

**Until we meet again, until we strike our final score.**

**Air breathe unto him, the breath of mortal life.**

**Give him the key to unlock Klaus's immortal spell**

**By the power of goodness all my witches help him strive**

**Like a fly into a web he will go to hell.**

**Be sullen still angel, as the tears track down your face,**

**Salty anger ripens, like the sun kissing your skin**

**Nothing makes you scared the most then the ashen blaze.**

**Good battles evil,**

**You battle deep within." )**

"I'm sorry your humanity was taken from you. But I will not use my gift for the sake of a monster."

Bonnie yelled over the winds that screeched around them. With one final howl, Stefan collapsed into spasms as he fell onto the ground in silence. And with that, the dream shattered like a screaming mirror. The dream left Bonnie crying inside.

Chapter three – At peace

After carrying Vicki to the bathroom and gently cleaning her neck with a white cloth,then he took some wet towels and scrubbed the red mess from the carpet. He went back to check on her and let out a sigh of relief as her eyes fluttered and opened hazily as she coughed. Absently, Jeremy wondered _How could someone dead die?_

Vicki found herself lurching up from the bath, trying to stand, but she felt dizzy and her senses were muddled, and Jeremy pushed her slowly back down as she staggered and struggled to walk. Jeremy found himself cradling her head.

He felt her flinch.

"It's okay." He whispered, reassuring her, and at the same time reassuring himself.

Jeremy felt her restraint melt in his arms as he carried her silently to rest on his bed.

He let her put her head on his pillow and he lay next to her.

Vicki let her eyes slip shut. So many times she had dreamed about lying here with him since her death.

"What happened to us Jer? Where'd we go wrong?"

Jeremy felt his heart tug when she said his name like that, but he ignored it.

"Well. Right about when you tried to kill me." He said Jokingly. Vicki thumped him playfully, but when open her eyes glistened and her face looked sad. She turned her head away to hide from him and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He heard her sniff.

"Hey," Jeremy soothed. "It doesn't matter,"

"Yes," She croaked "Yes it does. If I hadn't been staked, you would be dead."

He shuffled towards her, cautious because she was so fragile.

"You couldn't help it." Jeremy insisted as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I could've stopped. Stefan was helping me, but no. Drugged up junkie Vicki had to go ignore him, and let Damon lead her astray on the human stuff." She wiped tears from her eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders, and he felt the pent up anger and tight knots that wrought them like iron. Jeremy once remembered seeing Anna like this, and after seeing the amount of it that she'd lost, he knew what she needed. Vicki needed blood.

Jeremy reached for the stake he always kept in his side-drawer and pushed the drawer shut once he had it.

Vicki's ears pricked up. She turned back to him curiously, and her eyes widened in terror as she flew halfway across the room and backed up against the wall.

"Please...no..I..don't want to die!" She sobbed as her hands shook.

"It's okay, Vicki. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you." He took the sharp end of the stake and pricked his finger. One drop of blood lingered on the pad of the finger and dripped down his hand as Jeremy made his way towards her. Curious she sniffed the air and extended her tongue towards the wound and placed it on-top of it. More blood leaked from the cut and she drank it greedily, but was careful not to take too much as she remembered what happened last time she had drank from him.

A copper sensation exploded in her mouth. When she did, it was hard for her to pull back. She had never tasted something so refined as she licked the last remnants of the red wetness that had remained slick on her lips. She got a band aid from the top shelf in the bathroom. Vicki knew where everything was. And even if he'd moved something she would know because she'd been watching him.

When she returned to him she found him on his bed asleep with his eyes shut. Jeremy didn't move at all when she took the plaster and wrapped it around the slit on his hand. The vampire lay down with the human boy trying not to make the bed jolt and make him any less uncomfortable than he probably already was. Vicki kissed him once on the forehead, and even though she knew she had to be, she promised herself that she would be gone before the sun rose. She sighed. She was finally at peace with herself.

Chapter four – lips smacking

Elena awoke in the early morning in Damons' arms. Sun shone in steady beams through the window as she carefully untangled herself. She suspected Damon was awake even though he was silent. He looked so innocent and angelic when he was asleep. This was the first time she had slept in Damons' bed with Damon. She didn't intend to do it again, and she almost felt like slapping herself. Elena felt like she'd betrayed Stefan. _Stefan. _Memories came flooding back, along with the knowing that she may never see him again, and so many feelings and emotions that she couldn't quite understand came rushing along with it. She clutched her side as a stabbing pain entailed her heart, and Elena let out a small gasp. Damon was beside her and checking her all over. He put his hands on her waist.

"I'm fine..really." She choked out. Breathless, Elena collapsed in his arms.

Damon smoothed the hair off of her face. His hand brushed her clammy forehead. Elena was overheating. Damon breezed effortlessly downstairs with her in his arms, and dabbed a wet towel around her face. _So beautiful_. He thought, admiring her flawless light almost-olive skin and plush rose coloured lips. Damon gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. Elena's lashes flickered like feathers touching the earth as her eyes opened dazedly.

"What..?"

"You passed out. You just need a little food and rest." Damon smiled weakly at her. She'd had him scared for a moment. His eyes widened as she took his hand in hers before squeezing it tightly for a second then letting it go, and stretching out her arms and legs. Elena got up too fast, but Damon was by her side lowering her back onto the couch.

"You will be the death of me Elena. Well, technically speaking." He gave her a quick wink and a signature smirk, then he went to make her breakfast.

Elena was about to rest her head on a pillow when her phone started buzzing like crazy. Elena blinked at the name and yawned before answering.

"Hi Care,"

"Hey, Elena. I tried calling you like fifteen times, I'm freaking out! Why didn't you call me? I thought you were dead or something." Caroline was just her usual cheery self, but Elena could tell she sounded tense and worried.

"Sorry, I uh..just sorta woke up. Please tell me everything's okay?" Elena wondered why she was calling, when Damon popped his head through the doorway looking suspicious and mouthing '**Elena Alert**', giving an answer to why she had been called. Elena rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at him. He dodged easily and Elena mouthed ' **Damn you** '. Damon just laughed and said "Been there, done that, bought the freakin' tote bag." before leaving the room.

"As long as you're okay everything is fine."

"I wouldn't say I'm perfect." Elena could hear her voice breaking, but she steadied it.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so insensitive. Truly, I am sorry about Stefan, Elena," She did sound torn up. "But, I have a plan, so meet me, at the grill, in about an hour. 'Kay?" Elena smiled at how Caroline had the optimism to brighten just about everyone's day. Well, everyone's apart from Damon's.

There was rustling and laughing from the other end of the phone. "Tyler, I'm talking to Elena!" Caroline giggled.

"Whoops." Elena heard him say in the background, and then there were sounds of lips smacking.

Damon came in with a plate of food.

"Get a leash for your dog." He said grabbing the phone. Elena made a reach for it, and Damon enjoyed seeing her attempts. Elena stole it back as she laughed a little and whacked Damon on the shoulder, watching him pretend to be hurt. She put it back to her ear.

"Sure, I'll see you there." She said.

"Good."

"And get a..er..leash for your vam.."

"Shut up mutt."

Chapter five - PDA

Elena let Damon give her a lift to the grill, and she was surprised when she opened the door revealing that no one was there. No lights were on, it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing.

"Hey, Damon have you got a torch or somethi," She started, only to see that he had somehow vanished into thin air.

"Great. Just a stupid human. With no good stupid eyes." She grumbled, feeling her way through the dark. Out of nowhere she got a feeling that she was being watched, and she shivered.

"Damon, if this is some kind of a joke I will seriously kick your ass." She wasn't kidding, and Elena had began to start feeling sorry for herself, when she felt a cool hand creep its way up her back. She let out a shriek and started to run, seeing a pair of eyes suddenly wink out at her from the darkness, and another twenty pairs that she could see the bodies to as lights flashed on, matched with a hearty "Happy Birthday!" From everyone.

Elena gasped and clapped her hands excitedly as she spun round to see so many of her friends and family, she felt touched that there were people who loved her. Damon crept up behind her with a glass of bourbon in his hands and gave her one of his smiles that melted her kneecaps and that secretly made her jellify. "No ass kicking is necessary..though I'd _lurrrve_ to see you try." Damon waggled his eyebrows at her, and he sped behind her when she tried to take a swipe at him. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, wishing that he could kiss her on the lips with a million kisses. Damon had decided that the ' death-bed ' kiss had just been because she felt sorry for him, but they would talk later anyway. He would make sure of it. Right now he was glad that she had just been in his arms, even if it had just been for a second, it was a second he would cherish, just like all the time with Elena he cherished. She tried to do the eye-thing just like he did, but she failed immensely and it left Damon choking on his drink as he chuckled like an idiot.

Elena knew that she was having fun. But she couldn't help but wish that Stefan was here so she could enjoy it with him. She felt tears starting to prick her eyes, but she took a deep breath, and she felt them go away. Elena had to be strong. For everyone. She owed it to them, for everything they'd done for her, she could at least be happy.

She smiled.

"Care, did you do all this yourself?" This time it wasn't an act. She really was amazed at she actually properly took in the sight around her. Garlands of fresh pink roses were twisted around the entrance and all of the doors and windows, leading to a massive terracotta banner tied with pink ribbons, reading '_ Happy 18__th__ Birthday Elena – Love Family & Friends '. _Nearly all the chairs and tables had vanished apart from a few that remained, and a makeshift dance floor was lined with hundreds of red and white coloured candles that flickered constantly. Petals were scattered on the floor and at the back of the Grill by the bar, and a DJ was situated on the main stage.

They carried on talking as people partied around them.

"No, I had a little help." Caroline pointed to Bonnie who was making her way through the crowd of people wearing a lovely peach coloured cocktail dress embroidered with pearls and black patent kitten heels.

"Wow Bon, you look so pretty! I'm so glad you're here." She grinned, embracing one of her best friends.

"Well, someone had to light all the candles." The two girls laughed together, and in that moment it felt like old times before Jenna had died, and things hadn't been so hectic.

"Hey, are you forgetting me, sis?" Jeremy handed her a present as he linked hands with Bonnie and planted a kiss right on her lips. Bonnie closed her eyes wanting to live in the moment forever, and then she opened them again and started to kiss him back.

"Ew, PDA,PDA. May I please just cut in..you might wanna stop sucking face." Damon made his way towards Elena, and she saw Caroline's eyes darting to Damon and then back to her. Damon had helped too. Without no warning whatsoever, Elena jumped into his arms hugging him so tight that he could barely breathe the air that he didn't even need, and knocking him off guard. That was something he hadn't been expecting. For a second he thought he felt his heart beat again as he tried to remember every essence of it. When Elena finally released him, he was composed enough after a sip of bourbon for a one liner.

"Jeez Elena, now there isn't enough of me for everyone else." He smirked.

"Damon Salvatore. You so have a heart!" She teased, prodding him.

"I do not!" He spluttered, but there was no more time to carry on arguing, as Jeremy dragged Elena away, taking her to the back of the grill and to the left, leading her to the Women's Rest-rooms. She narrowed her eyes at her young brother.

"Just, trust me and go inside." Sighing Elena pushed open the door, only to see the most gorgeous outfit she had ever seen. It was a short strapless dress in lilac silk, that had a deep purple ribbon tied at the waist, embellished with star-rubies. A pair of matching shoes stood propped up beside it.

"Jer, I don't know what to say. It's absolutely amazing! Where'd you get it?" Elena gasped, gaping at the dress as she trailed a hand down the soft fabric.

"I didn't." He smiled, sadly.

"Huh?" Elena didn't understand.

"Stefan did," The birthday girl's eyes widened. "Damon found it when he was looking for some drink at the boarding house. He'd already got you a present before he.." His voice trailed of, seeing the look on Elena's face as it paled. Elena swallowed.

"Well, thank you for bringing it to me. And what are you doing in the girls bathroom's anyway? Get out of here!" She chided sarcastically as he left, setting the mood back to happiness. Elena wished she felt as happy.

Chapter six – So close

Damon went to sit next to Alaric at the bar, feeling more than a little drunk, though he thought he wasn't.

"Why so glum chum?" Yep, he was drunk.

"Ah, I just wish that Jenna was here, you know. It would mean so much to her to be here for Elena." He frowned and downed his drink, walking away. Damon knew there was more to it then that, and he was about to go after him, but Elena stopped him in his tracks and he froze, astounded. She was breath taking. His blue eyes widened because she looked so sad.

"Hey, beautiful." He said tilting her chin up. Elena ducked her head and blushed. And he realised he already knew why she was unhappy. She was wearing something his brother had bought her, yet his brother wasn't here to see her wearing it. A spike of anger flickered in his mind.

"You know that was a lame pick-up line."

"I was being truthful." Damon gave her one of his smiles, and he saw her lips curl up even though he could tell she was trying not to smile.

"How about this then. Would you like to dance?" He said, bowing to her and taking her hand. Elena couldn't help but giggle as they went to the dance floor.

"I guess I owe you one, when I rejected you at the sixties dance." Damon cringed, then placed one hand on her waist and the other in her palm. Elena put her hand on his back as she managed to contain a shiver. She felt like her heart might burst right out of her chest, but she had no idea why.

"Well, I was pretty scary, and I still am." He joked, pulling a monster face, then returning back to normal.

"I'm not scared of you, Mr Salvatore." Elena insisted, hiccuping.

"Oh, you should be," He whispered darkly.

He felt her freeze.

"I do a **killer** tango."

Elena started laughing, but Damon remained deadly serious.

"And we are not going to stop until you beg." Then they were both laughing as he kissed her head, and twirled her around and then back into his arms again.

"I never knew you danced."

"There is so much about me that you are yet to find out." Damon chuckled and his sky-blue eyes looked inviting. _She was so close to him that their lips almost touched..._The music stopped, and Elena found herself being dragged from Damon and to the front of the stage, arm in arm with Bonnie and Caroline. She was about to escape to the back, when she saw Jeremy already blocking the way and tutting at her. She had never wanted a party, for the same reasons that she was going to have to mention in a minute, and also because she knew what her best friend's were going to make her do. And as they plopped her down onto a stall and thrust a microphone into her hand she was dreading it. The speech.


	11. Chapter 11 Especially

**A/N: I'm back aren't you guys so lucksome! So..I've got some bad news (violin music plays in the back ground) I won't be updating tomorrow, so I've uploaded this now, and there's a surprise for you in my A/N at the bottom. Had such an amazing day today chucking popcorn at the people making out next to me in the cinema..okay then...anyways, thanks to Don'tstopDANCING for the Story Alert and Favourite Story, you rock! (: - Leahlovessalvatore124! - P.S. - I apologise for the crappy made up word of – Oh lordy – lucksome and lots of other words that I have mentioned like muchos and muchly (cringe) – Enjoy!**

Chapter Eleven – Especially

Elena knocked on the door to Damon's room before entering.

"You just couldn't keep away, could you?" He said amused, putting down the book he had just been reading, and going to lounge on his bed. Sexily, gorgeously, there were so many words to describe how dripping hot he was Elena almost lost her train of though.

"Actually, no," Elena said, truthfully.

She watched as Damon began to sit up eagerly, doing the eye thing that she loved. Elena smiled.

"I figured out a way to save Bonnie, with a little help." She indicated to the door, where Katherine sauntered in gracefully.

"Nice room, Damon. Hasn't changed much since a last saw it." She gave him a playful wink.

"Bitch, you are not welcome here, now get the hell out of my house!"

"That's no way to treat a guest, Damon. Especially, one that's been so.._**helpful**_. Especially after I just saved your life." She said proudly.

"Oh yawn, poor you. Klaus's little messenger are we? Go crawl under a rock and just die, would ya."

"Damon, I'm hurt. Actually, I came of my own accord." Katherine pouted, taking a seat at the end of his bed. The female vampire took a tape-recorder from the pocket of her black jeans, and set it on his side table pressing play. Elena took a seat next to Damon, reminding herself of the last time she'd been there.

"How's my boy doing?" Klaus's voice rang from the little metal box. Elena shivered.

"Need..blood." There was a choked off wet sound, and then a loud crash, as if someone had been thrown through a window. "More..more..MORE!" Stefan yelled. There was another crash, that made Elena jump. Damon consciously put an arm around her.

"Very well, but first clean that mess off of your face. We're going to town for a bite to eat. A small bar in south Atlanta, actually." Damon could practically hear the smarm dripping from his voice.

There was an angry grunt after a short slurping sound.

"That's right. We make an excellent team, don't you think?"

Katherine scrolled the tape forward.

Elena shuffled closer to Damon. This was scaring her, knowing that the man she'd fallen in love with was someone else entirely.

High pitched screams and then the sounds of heavy panting and running made her shudder.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"No, please no..I want..t..to li.." The sentence was broken with a final wail, and then silence.

Katherine pressed the button again.

"So where are we headed?" Stefan's voice was slightly muffled, as if he was cleaning something from his lips.

"Patience is a virtue, Stefan. All will be revealed. But after Gretta's death, I have found myself short of a witch. Know of one perchance?" There were shallow thuds, as if Klaus was pacing. Elena could hear the smile in his voice, hear his evil face twisting, and she prayed to the Gods, prayed that Stefan wouldn't..but it was too late.

"Bonnie. Bonnie Bennett. I know where she lives. I've been invited in. I can get her." Tears trickled down Elena's face, and she clasped a hand to her mouth. Her heart turned cold, and she wanted to stop breathing. He sounded emotionless cruel and spiteful. There was nothing left of the Stefan she loved..or once loved.

Damon felt Elena stiffen, and wetness stained his shirt.

"When did you record that, Katherine please, you have to tell me!" Elena begged, jumping from the bed, halfway towards the door.

Katherine smirked.

"A couple of days ago. Klaus should probably be in Mystic Falls," Katherine smiled to herself and looked at her watch. Damon growled. "Right about..ooh, I don't know, NOW perhaps?"

**A/N:Right guys! I have a surprise for you! The first person who reviews gets to be in my story – let me know in their review, and I will include that person in my story! Please guys, I think I'm failing in this story, 'cause you're not reviewing, and you're not telling me if you want me to carry on! I know you're probably thinking, 'oh for crap's sake, this girl never gives in', but it really does mean a lot to me, if you could just spend a tiny winy bit of your time reviewing, I would really appreciate it – Leahlovessalvatore124!**


	12. Chapter 12 The Hunt

**A/N:**

Chapter Eleven – The Hunt

Dear diary,

It's the witching hour. When everyone's asleep, Grams used to say that's when they come. Prowling the darkness, hunting for prey while everyone's asleep in their beds, they grab some poor helpless human, and tear them apart. First they rip out your gums so you can't scream, can't make any noise, not even a whisper, you just have to lay there as they keep eating bits of you, one by one when you're still alive, still kicking, still breathing, still fighting for air. No one can help you, no one can save you. That's what I feel like now. Something's coming. I can feel it, and it's coming for me. If you're reading this now Jeremy, I love you all, and in death nothing will ever change that.

Bonnie scrunched up tight, tears rolling down her face, clutching the grimoire as she held it to her chest. No spell could help her now, it was too late. She could almost taste the evil in the air as it sniffed her out. Her breathing came quick and fast, even though she tried to control it. It was getting closer. She could hear it climbing the staircase. After her Grandma's death, the house had been given to her, it wasn't official, but it was still hers, and she thought how ironic it was that they were about to die in the same place. A hysterical bubble of laughter escaped from her mouth. The witch barely heard the noise that followed. It wasn't really a noise, more like a momentary change in the atmosphere, and suddenly time was in overdrive. She sensed the person turn, they knew where she was now, and it was her fault she was going to die. Bonnie slid out of the bed with the book, climbing into the closet, and found herself pressed up against the side of it which was now slick with her own sweat, trying to hear something, anything. The slightest movement, the tiniest brush of feet skimming carpet. _They like it like this. Dragging out the hunt. The thrill of the hunt is everything._ She thought.

Stefan could feel adrenaline pumping through his veins, and this was the one time in a long time where he felt alive. He channelled power to his eyes, ears and nose, he could smell her. And she smelt _**so good**_. Like exotic summers days and something lustrous and tempting, that he answered temptation's call. He smiled a horrid smile that reached his eyes, when he heard her heartbeat quicken, faster and faster, and so the rabbit would be eaten by the fox, there was no escape. A low growl escaped from his throat, and he stalked towards the closet where he could hear bones rattling like jelly.

"Marco...Polo..." He started calling, his voice like drowsy folds of black silk, overlapping everything in the darkness that seemed everlasting. Stefan traced the edges of the door with his hands, he sniffed around every inch of the door frame, and he heard the girl's sharp intake of breath, and helpless shivers as he inhaled every wisp of her scent. Stefan's tongue flicked out like a snake, and he licked his dry lips, enjoying the click of his fangs extending, and they scraped against the wood as they did.

"I can smell you. I will hunt you down, and I will snuff you out." He crooned. The veins on his face deepened their shade of scarlet, and looked almost plum coloured in the black night that enveloped the room. Stefan gripped the door handle. Bonnie was shaking and shaking, praying to any God who would listen, that her death would be swift and painless, even though she knew it wouldn't. The girl watched with wide eyes at the door handle as it twisted, slowly, ever so slowly, it was almost as if it was in slow motion, like she was standing there in a frozen state just waiting for death to finish her. Lightening fast the door banged open, revealing...nothing? Bonnie wondered if this was just her imagination, there had to be someone there, there had to be. She couldn't have imagined this all, could she? Hesitantly, she stepped out of her hiding place, and let out a sigh of relief. She shut the closet door, without even bothering to turn around, and slid to the floor, only to see the figure of Stefan, looming at her greedily from behind it, Bonnie opened her mouth to scream, but he put his hand to her lips and her nose, suffocating her with his smell of death.

"Shh, don't be afraid, one little taste, that's all I want." Stefan pulled the girl kicking and screaming into his arms, he was stronger, and her clawing at his face was like batting him with feathers. He pinned her arms to her sides, pulled back her neck and..she escaped? He found himself falling forwards into nothingness, and she was getting away, running from the room, but he fazed in-front of his prey, and threw her into a mirror on the wall on the far side of the room.

Blood smeared the yellow coating of the walls, and broken glass shards scattered themselves across the carpet, and Bonnie saw her face in them, her face was broken too. Blood poured from a cut on her head than ran down to the bottom of her ear, and she tried to pull herself up but she was too weak, and she found herself being wrenched backwards, and something that felt like a sharp sucker being pressed to the cut on her neck that was already there.

He was sucking away her life as he drank from her, and she knew she was fading. Grey and white spots clouded the edges of her vision, and she finally gave in, feeling her eyes on their way to slipping shut forever. The one thing that she wanted more than anything was to be...saved?

A loud shot pierced the heavenly silence that she had been about to drift into, and a weight so unimaginably heavy fell on Bonnie, that she found her eyes flying open. Someone nearby pushed it off of her, and she gasped as air whooshed through her lungs. Bonnie blinked dazedly at the figure as it took both of her hands, lifting her up and onto the bed.

"Great Aunt Avery?"


	13. Chapter 13 Letting Go

**A/N: I'm so so so sorry, seriously, I started writing a couple days ago, but then I sorta got writers block, and a whole bunch of other stuff happened as well, like the fact that I'm totally thanking God for my new baby cousin, Connie, who was born yesterday (: (: (: ! I suppose that's no excuse. I hope telling you to find a jaw-dropping trailer for TVD might help to make it up to you! Go onto Youtube and type in 'Whet Your Appetite' ! And you will see Caroline jump into bed with Tyler..whoops, I er, sorta told you. I know loads of you want to see some Forwood, and I promise I will fit some in the next chapter. Thanks to abbey and VampireSarah, TheDiariesOfVampires, and also to SalvatorAsInSavior for checking out my new Fan-Fic, 'At The Movies With Damon!' Sorry the beginning might be a bit crappy, but I promise it gets better at the end! Please don't stop reading 'cause I've been such a lazy sod – love Leahlovessalvatore124 xxxxxxx.**

Chapter Thirteen – Letting Go

Damon and Jeremy broke the door down and Elena was shoved behind them by Damon, only to find Bonnie standing there smiling sadly.

"You know, you're gonna have to replace that." She whispered into Elena's neck as she held her tight.

"I'm so glad you're..." Her voice trailed off, when she pulled away and Bonnie stepped into the light. Elena caught her breath. Scratches ran up and down her bare arms, her hair was a matted with shining bits of hard see-through stuff, her hands, face and neck were covered in blood, and a thin long cut puckered cut ran just below her hair line.

"Klaus..did this?" Everyone could see she was on the edge of tears, and one more thing would make would make her tip. Elena was trying to stay strong, but she couldn't help it. Why was this happening to her?

"I'm so sorry, Elena..it was Stefan." Bonnie mumbled against Jeremy's hair as he took her into his arms.

"That bastard." Growled Jeremy, anger glinting in his eyes before linking hands with his girlfriend, and looking all around, as if he was expecting the ripper to still be there, smirking and laughing at him from the darkness, until he saw a tiny figure in the shadows, and he ran at them. Bonnie grabbed him back just in time.

"Jeremy, Jeremy, stop. That's just my Great Aunt. If it wasn't for her, I would be dead."

The silhouette tiptoed towards them.

"Hello child." The woman took hold of both of his hands, as she greeted him. She was quite old, and her skin was a deep bronze colour a much richer shade of Bonnie's. And instead of making her look ugly, her wrinkles made her look wise. Her deep green eyes bore deep into his, and her amber hair shone gold in the moonlight.

"No time for happy families, where the heck is my brother?"

Damon said, speaking up for the first time, although his voice sounded unusually rough.

"I'm not going up there. We spelled him down for a while, but he might have already escaped."

Bonnie explained, and Damon soared up the stairs, wrenched open the handle, only to find her room completely empty.

"Nada." He said, cursing under his breath when he trod on a wooden bullet that had obviously missed Stefan.

They all went downstairs, and Avery fixed them all hot mugs of coffee.

"Where the heck is Barbara and her freakin' leash boy?" Damon spat, pacing in the kitchen, trying to get phone signal. There was a crash from upstairs, and then Caroline and Tyler were seen walking downstairs, followed by Alaric, carrying a Vervain gun.

"We're here!" Tyler frowned at his little comment.

"We got your message, where's Bon?" Caroline said, her eyes were red and puffy.

"Jeez, guys, I'm fine! Could everyone just stop fussing?" Bonnie smiled over the mug that she was drinking from. It was nice to know that she was appreciated.

Bonnie knew that even though this was her home, she couldn't stay here tonight.

"I think I'm going to go stay at the witch house tonight, just in case. I can't stay with you or Caroline, because he's been invited in." The witch spoke to Elena. She knew she would be safe there, the witches would watch over her, and she knew Jeremy would have to come too, so she would be fine. But there was one thing she was curious about.

"How did you all know where Stefan was gonna be?" She asked.

"Well, er..Katherine sorta helped." Elena told her, and Bonnies mouth flopped open.

Elena returned to the boarding house as usual, and started setting up her stuff on the sofa. It had been where she'd come recently. The house was empty, and with Jeremy gone with Bonnie, she didn't want to have to think about the people that had once been in that house. She didn't want to stay in Stefan's room, that would be too hard.

"Bonnie's fine, I'm having Ric monitor her." He said, sitting down beside her. This obviously wasn't her favourite birthday, and he could see tears in her eyes that she was furiously trying to blink away. He touched her cheek, and she smiled at him as he caught the one tear that she had let slip.

"It's okay to cry." He whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"We're his friends Damon, I didn't think he would do that."

"Stefan's coping the only way he knows how to, Elena."

Elena looked up at him, confused.

"He's letting go." She was speechless.

"You have to forget him Elena. He's not coming back. Not in your lifetime." Damon soothed as moved her into his arms. He wouldn't lie to her. He knew that the truth hurt, but he'd seen the patterns. He'd seen the same ones in him that he saw in Stefan. And most of all, he knew his brother.

Elena knew what he meant be letting go. He wouldn't be back for her, he would only ever be back to run errands for Klaus, just like he tried to get Bonnie, that was for him too. He was getting on with his life, and Damon was telling her to get on with hers.

After a while, Damon slowly unlatched her from his arms and put his hand in his pocket, taking out a little black leather box.

"What..?" Elena said, wiping her eyes.

"I know you probably didn't want me to buy you anything, and I didn't." Damon took her hand and pulled her onto her feet, turning her round as he undid the clasp of the necklace that she always wore.

"I had a jeweller type friend make it for me who owed me a favour. I know there will always be a part of you that loves him, but I'll be here for you, no matter what. I will always love you, Elena." Slowly he carefully slid something else around her neck and clicked it into place. Elena looked down at the tiny multi-coloured flower that nestled in the hollow of her neck, engraved with the swirling letter E and pearls dripped down the chain of the necklace. Instantly she smelled the cloying scent of Vervain, and she figured it had been melted into the pendant.

"I hope that this will help you to forgive him, and make a new beginning." Damon told her, knowing that it would help her, and that he really meant it.

"Why did my heart have to choose the wrong brother?"

Elena smiled up at him. This would be the start of something new.

"I'm not giving up hope." He said, a tear sliding down his face. And it was true. For as long as she was on this Earth, Damon would never leave her.

**A/N: Not expecting loads of reviews for this but I hope you liked it!**

**Damon: Yeah, I hope so! Seriously, I think I need a vein to tap or something after that scene, that was preeeetty tiring! Hey Leah, care for a bite?**

**Leah: Er..I'm gonna, like go now before he..aah!**

**(Damon creeps up behind her and snaps her neck)**

**Damon: Jeez, did that girl ever SHUT THE HELL UP?**


	14. Chapter 14 Seductively

**A/N: It's been a long time since I came around,**

**Been a long time but I'm back in town,**

**And this time I'm not leaving without you!**

**Sorry, going on a bit of a Gaga freak-out since the You And I video was released Y-day. I know I haven't updated in like, two days? Hope this chapter's good for Forwood lovers xxx – Leahlovessalvatore124 – P.S I will thank everyone at the end of this chapter!**

Chapter Fourteen - Seductively

Rays of sunlight streamed through the open window and danced on her skin. Caroline glanced at the Lapis ring that protected her, wishing to be human again.

She was at Tyler's place, and he was still sleeping, still holding her in his arms against his bare chest that lately felt like home to her. Caroline was one of the only people that understood him, and she stroked his cheek lovingly. They were the same, in a way. They had both been afraid, lost, and they'd both found each other.

"You're such a faker!" Caroline whispered as her boyfriend stirred and his eyes squinted. She lightly leaned towards him, planting a kiss softly on his lips. Tyler sighed.

"That feels good, Care." The vampire kissed the werewolf again, this time placing her palms on either side of his face and holding it a little before breaking the kiss.

"How about that?"

Now he was awake. She giggled feverishly as he rolled on top of her, caressing the side of her face and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"That's a dangerous thing, waking a werewolf. You know why? 'Cause they might just BITE!" Caroline squealed as he bared his teeth, trying to nibble her ear.

"You...you wouldn't!" She choked out between fits of laughter.

"Oh really?" He challenged, grinning seductively. Tyler leans in, snapping his teeth at her playfully.

"Two can play at that game." Caroline whispers, and his whole body tingles. He pretends to bite her, but instead when his lips meet her skin he kisses her instead, trailing them up from the bottom of her chest, all the way to her neck, and when they reach her throat she closes her eyes. Just as they reach her lips, she hears foot-falls on the stairs.

"Ty..someone's coming!"

Her eyes snap open just as they reach the landing.

"Okay, okay! Quick, under the bed." He shouts, holding hands he helps to push her under just as a small knock sounds at the door and he leaps back onto the pillows, covering himself up with the sheets.

"Tyler, who were you talking to?" Mrs Lockwood pushes open the door, looking suspicious.

"Who was I talking to? Er..Caroline!" He says, his mother looking shocked.

"What?"

"Yeah, on the phone!" Tyler says, waving his Blackberry at her from his side table.

"Well, okay then."

Caroline breathes a silent sigh of relief from underneath the bed, the hard marble cool against her skin and her body pressed flat against the floor.

Tyler holds his breath as his Mom looks around the room, eyes narrowed as she points to the pile of his girlfriend's stuff in the corner at the end of his bed.

"And what is this then, hmm?" Mrs Lockwood storms towards it, picking up the lacy bra with her little finger.

Tyler was dumb struck. What the heck was he going to say now?

"That's Mason's old stuff Mom. He had a couple of 'friends' over, and I was sorting through some of his things the other day. Sorry, I sorta left it there, I just couldn't be bothered to pick it up."

He thanked whatever was up there that he had hopefully been able to get himself out of this one.

"Are you sure?" She questioned, coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

"God Mom! I'm still a virgin, okay?"

There was a snort from under the bed.

"Sorry, I uh, think I'm coming down with something." Tyler sniffed, kicking a shoe under the bed, he heard a small grunt. Did she want to make this any harder for him?

"Well, if you ever want to talk, with your father gone, I'm here for you." Tyler's mother quickly pecked his forehead and swept across the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

"That was close!" Caroline said, easing herself out and going to lay back on the mass of sheets and fluffy pillows.

"You soo weren't helping!"

"I can't believe she fell for that! Although, I have to admit, you were pretty good!" She laughed.

"There's other things I'm pretty good at." Tyler whispered smoothly. Smirking slyly, he pulled the cover's over the both of them.

It had been two days since her attack, and Bonnie was busy applying foundation and concealer in the boarding house bathroom. Today they were going to have one day out of their lives when they didn't have to be erratic or fearful, or worrying about death. One normal day where they could just have fun.

"Bonnie, you ought to be proud of your wounds, child. They show your strength and courage." Her great aunt said as she came in behind her.

"I know, but their just so _ugly_."

"Here," She took the make-up pads and started wiping the brown gloop from the girls face. "Let me." The ancient woman turned her great niece to look in the grand mirror edged with a brown oak finish.

"They are what define you as who you are."

Bonnie went to join the rest of her friends in the living room.

Tyler was sitting on a couch with Caroline on his lap, Damon was sitting with Alaric, and Jeremy was waiting for her on the other sofa.

"Where's Elena?" She asked, sitting down with Jeremy as he draped his arm around her.

"Cooking up a storm." Damon answered brusquely, beating the human boy to it.

"Actually, she's just getting dips and nachos." Elena said, putting two filled bowls on the coffee table and plonking her butt down next to Damon.

Damon looked up at her and was touched to see she was still wearing his necklace.

"Hey," She said, taking his hands in hers and checking to see that Tyler and Caroline weren't listening in. This surprised Damon and his eyes widened a little, then casually dropped back to normal. "me and Bonnie want to talk to you about something." Elena signalled over at her witch best-friend and she pulled up a chair. Damon's eyes narrowed. What kind of pep-talk was this?

"Actually, Caroline wants us to talk to you, but she knew you'd go all sarcastic on her, so she got us to do it, seeing as I kinda scare you, and well, you and Elena are quite close, she figured we'd be better for the job." Bonnie smiled at him tentatively. Why the heck were they treating him like a freakin' four year old?

"It's about Tyler," Elena started, and Damon rolled his eyes. "you've got to be nice to him Damon."

"Yeah, I mean you guys are sort of the same if you think about it." Bonnie reasoned. This was going to be tough.

Damon laughed.

"Define 'the same'." He snorted.

Elena huffed.

"Look, could you please just try and at least put up with him being in the same room?" She looked up at him with those doe eyes of hers that instantly made his insides melt.

He sighed.

"Don't just assume that I'm going to do something just because it's you who's asking." Damon snapped, a little too harshly, and she dropped his hands like she'd just been stung. Elena felt hurt. She would never play on his heart strings like that, thinking like that was just plain low.

"I didn't mean it like that. If you two have unresolved differences by the next full moon, who knows what will happen." Elena whispered. Damon could tell she was genuinely worried, and he immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Elena. Fine. But it probably won't change anything, just warning ya."

Elena smiled and he turned to jelly again.

"Try to get to know him, bond, smile a little." Elena said as Damon made his way over to the werewolf, who straight away was on guard.

"Let's bond Tyler. Bonding is important." Damon said, 'smiling'.

"She said smile, not look like you wanna eat him." Bonnie jeered.

"Actually, I think I've lost my appetite." Damon sat beside him, practically cringing.

"So it looks like we have to do this?" Tyler whispered.

"For our girls." Damon said back, for his ears only.

"For my girl, yeah, but who's your girl?"

"You are so dumb it's unbelievable." Damon felt an eye-roll coming on.

"Elena? Come on dude, I knew it was Elena, I was just messing with ya!" Tyler said, although he was looking a little confused. This dude was going out with his blood-sucking brother's girlfriend/soon-to-be-ex? It just didn't make sense, and anyway, he wondered why Damon (!) would talk to him of all people about something that he usually would just tuck away and hide.

"You know, you're not that bad Salvatore." Tyler slurred, chugging back alcohol. He was going to regret that in the morning.

"Well, neither are you Lockwo...ugh, sorry, the feeling of that in my mouth, it just tastes disgusting." Damon pulled a face.

Tyler laughed.

"So this is just an act, right? You know, this 'being nice' stuff?"

Deep down in his heart of hearts, he was maybe starting to like Tyler.

"All for show, Lockwood." Damon said, taking a sip from the bottle and looking at 'his girl' laugh with Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline, and his good old buddy Ric. Even Great Aunt Avery was having a good time, and she was starting to become a fundamental part of the group. But there was something, some deep sadness in Elena's eyes that said she was all for show too. Damon knew that this would never be over. She would never forget Stefan. Sometimes Damon wished they both could. But deep down, Damon just missed his little brother.

**A/N: Sooo what did ya think? Please review and let me know. Thankyou to xXSpreadTheLoveXx, Charmed and Deadly, sailormoonluver218, HeartsBreakInLove for reading my other story, and to Cherryox. You are soo totally brilliant, I don't know how to thank you guys!**

**Damon: "Oh for God's sake, stop rambling and more writing!"**

**-Leahlovessalvatore124 .**


	15. Chapter 15 Nothing To Apologise For

**A/N: So sorry for not updating soon enough! I got my laptop confiscated by my parents for being on it too long – sob, sob – and then I've been working on this other story that I haven't uploaded yet, but this is hopefully the first of two updates today so enjoy – keep reading and reviewing you guys are amazing thank you so much, especially to Kat thank you for another review! And to Neeka Salvatore, you guys are fantastic – Leahlovessalvatore124 xx.**

Chapter Fifteen – Nothing To Apologise For

Dazedly, Elena's eyes fluttered open. Getting out of bed she pulled across the blinds, sunlight blinded her as she opened the window, taking a deep breath of fresh morning air that smelt like the ivy and honeysuckle plant that twined its self around the pipe that led up to her window. Today her bones still felt fragile, her heart still ached like someone had stabbed her in the chest, but as air filled her body, she breathed around the hole, and she felt it gradually beginning to heal.

After taking a cool shower, she looked at herself in the mirror. Healthy olive skin and hopeful deep brown eyes stared back at her. Today would be the dawn of a new day. She knew she hadn't forgotten..that she would never forget.._him_.., and she still couldn't think his name, say it, but nobody would let her crawl under her bed and die, she remembered what Caroline had said earlier, and flinched. She still thought her best-friend had been too harsh, too insensitive.

_Elena had dragged herself to the sofa, slumping on it and letting it eat her, and she was starting to fall asleep when Caroline was behind her, pulling her out and up so fast that she felt dizzy._

"_What are you..doing?" Elena whispered, still drowsy, rubbing her eyes._

"_What you should already be doing which you're not." Her friend said hastily, pulling Elena's hair out of the bun that had been planted messily on the top of her head, and that she hadn't bothered to re-do since five days ago. Elena knew what she meant, but the fact was, she had been pretending, putting on an act for everyone, trying to make the people around her happy instead of being happy herself. Damon had only just helped her to come to terms with the thought that the person she loved more than so many things was never coming back, not when she was alive, at the very least, and she was beginning to have doubts even if **he** still loved her. Everyone wanted her to get on with her life like nothing had ever happened. To her it was as if no-one had seemed to notice the big black hole that had broached its way into her life and sucked **him** out if it. She felt like no-one cared_

"_I'm not ready." She whispered, going to lay back into the couch again, but Caroline had hold of her arm, stopping her._

"_Elena, stop wasting your life away. I don't have mine, so you should be thankful. Stop moping around, and actually do something with it."_

_Elena felt her mouth gape open. Was she actually hearing this?_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_Elena, you need to accept that he's not coming back." Elena saw it in her eyes. The worry. The stress that her constant grief was causing everyone. But she also saw something else that hurt her to identify. Elena frowned at her friend, her forehead creasing._

"_I..I know." She hung her head low and let the curtains of hair enshroud her face, covering the tears that were already forming in her eyes as she left the boarding house._

Elena went to grab her diary after pulling on her blue jeans, plain lacy top and lilac jumper, but as she looked for it behind the painting of the graceful white horse cantering inside the painting that always remained above her bed, she found that it was missing. Again.

Jeremy must have taken it. Or someone who was trying to stop her from feeling any different than she had everyday since _his _disappearance. The book that held every memory that they'd had together was gone. But the truth was that she didn't need it. Taking away the physical evidence wasn't going to solve anything, to wipe away_ that_ person's existence. The pain was a constant reminder that _he_ was real, and that she hoped would never disappear as it would take _him_ with it. But the hole in her heart was beginning to go smooth around the edges, rather than the razor sharpness that usually tugged at her, and she didn't find it so hard to breathe anymore. Elena felt the corners of her lips upturn slightly. Usually she would feel guilty for feeling even the tiniest bit better, but she felt happy almost. There was some kind of unusual hope that hung in the air today, some sign of healing that she welcomed eagerly into herself with open arms. She almost skipped down the stairs, and the necklace that Damon had given her bounced against her chest, rather than nesting in the nape of her neck. There was a spring in her step. Today would be the dawn of a new day. She could sense it.

"Good morning, Damon." Elena smiled at the expression of the black haired vampire that was squirting a blood bag into a glass at the boarding house. He looked kinda confused as he scrutinised her.

"Good morning to you, little Miss Perky." He quipped, and looked at her with narrowed eyes. She wasn't usually like this, where had all the self-loathing wallowing gone? Then he realised that he shouldn't question it. This had been what he'd wanted. What she'd needed. Was that the same blush on her cheeks that he would usually misinterpret so many times that he hadn't seen much since his brother had vanished?

And it was.

"I'm going to make things get..better, and instead of actually pretending to be happy I'm going to be happy." She smiled softly, the warm smile that she knew Damon loved. Elena felt a sudden rush of emotions that made the tips of her fingers tingle and her heart thud like crazy when she looked at him.

When Damon didn't say anything, she felt herself frown. Was something wrong? She rushed over to him.

"Hey, are you okay?" She waved a hand frantically in-front of his face, trying to at-least make his beautiful powder blue eyes blink, or make him do something.

"Boo." He shouted, nearly making her jump out of her skin, his face mere inches from hers. He felt the strong gust of breath that she blew out in relief that he was okay, and he muffled a sly smile.

"Stop that!" She scolded playfully smiling.

"Make me." He whispered now magically behind her, and so close that his lips nearly brushed against her ear when he spoke ever so softly. The words sent chills down her spine, and Damon chuckled. Elena managed to compose herself enough to raise a perfect brown eyebrow, but could feel a smile curling at her lips, and she knew Damon saw it too.

"Such a faker." He laughed, pouring himself a drink from a bottle of his favourite scotch. Elena went to join him, and he looked at her questioningly. She wasn't usually this.._clingy_, and even though he loved having her by his side, he wondered why.

"I actually came to apologise for being so erratic lately." She said, this time sitting on the couch and also being fully alert, rather than laying on it and being plain lazy.

"You've got nothing to apologise for." Damon whispered, his voice rough with emotions, and he made no attempts to try to cover it. That had been the old Damon. The new Damon was different.

Elena's eyes flicked up at him. _Nothing to apologise for __**yet**__. _Her mind told her. They were there. They could have kissed. But no matter how much she did or didn't want to, there it was again. That overwhelming sense of guilt that was almost overpowering. She knew she couldn't. Elena looked down, feeling terrible, confused..and a bunch of other emotions rushing through her.

This time she felt like saying sorry, but for all the wrong reasons as she managed to pull herself away from him and walk out the door.

By the time she arrived at the place where she was to meet _her_, she'd already texted Damon to say she'd be 'at the grill', chilling with Caroline. It was a perfect plan, and even though she hated to lie to him, she knew that he wouldn't find out. She'd checked the solar news. There was to be a full moon tonight. And she would be helping Tyler. No one would be any the wiser until later, when maybe they had to know. She'd be back in time to keep an eye on Damon tonight anyway, and she knew no telling him, deceiving him would hurt, but she knew it would be for the best.

The car was parked next to an old oak tree at the edge of the woods in Mystic Falls, and leaves and debris crunched under her feet as she entered the grim looking clearing that was over-grown with weeds.

"Well, well, yet another secret kept from the Salvatore brothers. You're more Petrova than I gave you credit for."

A sly voice purred at her, and the shadow of an immortal figure slanted out of the trees, followed by its owner. Hair hung in glossy brown ringlets framing the beautiful yet malignant face of her twisted doppelgänger.

She knew Katherine wouldn't willing do her a favour, unless she collected..unless she wanted something in return. Knowing Katherine it would be something outrageous that she wouldn't want to give her, but would have no choice but to abide by. Elena swallowed.


	16. Chapter 16 Family Comes First

**A/N: Another chapter! The name of the chapter is sort of symbolizing the opposite as in betrayal, when it comes nearer to the end, but it's also about Klaus and Elijah's relationship as brothers, and also Elena and Katherine's relationship. The flashback is in italic – Leahlovessalvatore124.**

Chapter Sixteen – Family Comes First

"Where is Elijah?"

Elena said clearly, despite the fear that nearly thwarted her. She watched a small smile form on Katherine's lips.

"Who knows?" She drawled slyly, with an edge to her voice.

"I don't play games, Katherine." Elena quickly covered the fear that threatened to reveal itself in her voice.

"Aw, you're no fun." She pouted, laughing like a silly school girl, and then she was back to being serious. "Follow me." She grinned again, her non-friendly one that she usually gave Elena when she was looking down her nose at her. Katherine didn't understand what both brothers saw in her, and she wondered what it was as she pointed to the wild forest behind her and disappeared through the trees and bracken, leaving nothing but a few leaves swirling in the breeze behind her as Elena ran and follow.

It was a while before the human caught up with the vampire, and Elena was left gasping for breath, kneeling over and leaning on one leg panting. Katherine was lounging rather elegantly on a large rock, rolling her eyes at her.

"Human beings..so pathetic." She said, pulling Elena up and taking hold of her hands, flinching. In a second they were at the peak of the large hill and built onto it was a large rust coloured stone warehouse, with a skittish roof that sloped evenly on both sides and a large faded blue door that was hooked with a small padlock and chain. With ease, Katherine ripped it off, throwing it into the distance and wrenching the door open, she fluttered inside, and was gone even before Elena could blink.

"K..Katherine?" Elena whispered into the dead air as she poked her head through the door into darkness that was pitch-black. She fumbled for a light switch, and her hands found a lot of things that were hard and smooth. But as she tiptoed forward, the ground was unusually slippery under her feet, she felt something icy and floppy feeling at her face, and found herself tumbling backwards, and someone's hand being pressed firmly against her mouth and eyes. Her heart was pounding, and she heard the tiniest flick of a light switch.

"Do not make a sound." A voice whispered against her ear, it was so quiet it was barely audible. Elena nodded and breathed a minimal sigh of relief. _Katherine._

She removed her hands from Elena's face, and the beginning of a scream wailed from the humans mouth, but she just managed to clasp her hands across her mouth as it broke off. There, hanging above her, was the icy floppy thing that had touched her face, a hand, a cold dead hand attached to the rest of a body. A face was inches from hers, its eyes still open, still staring and glassy, tainted red with blood, as was the rest of its face and hair. Its mouth was disfigured and contorted as if it wanted to scream too, and the head was hanging by a thread of flesh as if the person that had mangled the girl so much had got so hungry that they had eaten it's neck, as it was no longer on the rest of the body. The floor was slippery because somehow blood was still dripping down, down from the head and into the lifeless eyes, and it spilled over and onto the floor like tears. Silently, Elena reached up a hand and brushed the girls eyes shut.

"Other vampires have been here. I only told you to shut up because I wasn't sure if they were gone. But they are." Katherine said, without emotion and staring blankly at the body that was hanging from a rope tied to the ceiling. Obviously, they'd had no time to dump the body. They'd been creative. Not many people would look up. But she wondered why they hadn't dumped her in one of the boxes, because as she looked around there were hundreds of them, all around them in ranges of different sizes. No. It had to have been Klaus. He did things like this. He liked playing tricks. But it didn't look like he'd killed her. He was too in control to just..rip someone's throat out, literally. It had to have been Stefan. The true ripper.

"How do you know they're gone?" Elena whispered, still being cautious.

"Because they would have sniffed you out like blood-hounds." Katherine answered, for once being serious, and there wasn't a hint of the usual tinkling amusement in her voice that there always was as she pulled Elena from her trance and up some small stairs that were situated a couple of metres on her right. Elena watched curiously as she sniffed the air.

"I can smell him. He's not far from here. Over there and a little to the left." The vampire stated, pointing a finger to the huge block holding rows upon rows of wooden and cardboard boxes all stacked on-top of each other.

"Are you sure he's here, and you're not just lying?" Elena raised a brow at her vampire mirror image and crossed her arms.

"I may be a 'psychotic bitch' and obviously a whole bunch of other things from the way your mind's set, but I am not a liar." Elena sighed and began to walk towards it, but Katherine took hold of her arm.

"Wait."

"What?" She said, pausing in her stride.

"This is too easy." Katherine narrowed her eyes, looking up at the huge mound of boxes that towered above them. "Klaus won't leave them unguarded. That's not his.._style_." She smelled the air again, rolling her eyes. "Witches."

"Couldn't we distract them somehow?"

"Nope. But I will." She grinned evilly, air stirred around Elena, and then she was climbing up a ladder so fast that she was a blur.

Elena watched until she vanished from sight. There was no way Katherine was going to leave her behind just 'cause she thought she was just some unreliable human. No. That was not going to happen. Elena ran quickly after her being careful not to make any noise. The wrungs of the ladder were old and starting to waste away, and she was half way up when she heard a small creak, and the step splintered from underneath her with a horrible tearing sound, and it left her boosting herself up and clinging on for dear life. She muffled a sigh of relief as she carried on climbing. There was silence..which was odd, she would have at least expected some sound, even as she reached near the top and climbed the rest of the steps, the only sound was the uneven beating of her heart frantically pounding in her chest. She was trying to level her weight, but it wasn't working, now everything was creaking like a door opening in a freaky horror movie. Elena knew what was coming next, but it was as if everything happened in slow motion. She lost her footing and the wood tumbled from under her feet, and she felt herself falling, the whole world spinning around her, a high pitched scream clawed its way out of her throat as she herself clawed at the air trying to find something to grab onto, anything, and then..safety?

"Need a hand?"

Someone's palm entered hers, and her fingers intertwined with their ringed ones as she was pulled into soft black-jacketed familiarness and up and over the ladder onto smooth ground above it. Elena reluctantly and immediately pulled away from him. She was shaking like an idiot, and even as she tried to walk, everything was all dizzy, and she was close to falling over, when Damon caught her again, this time with one arm, like they were in the middle of a couples dance, and he had Elena bent over to kiss her. His super-vamp-speed-thingy was starting to give her whiplash. Damon held her until everything stopped spinning.

Elena detached herself from him, and then she froze. In a pile leaning up against each other like domino's were a group of people laying on the floor unconscious. Damon noticed her worried expression.

"Santa's jolly little band of elves." He said, and watched her shoulders relax. There was a small grunt, and Elena turned to the noise. Bonnie was concentrating hard with her eyes closed on a crippled little mound on the floor that was quivering and gasping. Elena noticed a flash of chocolate coloured curls.

"Stop! Bonnie stop!"

The witches eyes snapped open as the girl grabbed her shoulders, and the pile huffed, suddenly standing up, arms folded and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"I masked Damon's scent so she wouldn't smell him. So we could lure her up and kill her." The witch said.

"She helped me. We have a deal." Elena soothed, and Bonnie raised her brows at something behind her. There was a sharp click, and Alaric appeared before her with a crossbow. Elena stepped in-front of Katherine, defending her.

"Looks like family comes first." Katherine winked and giggled. Damon was by Elena in a second, lunging for the vampires throat. Elena touched his arm, trying to calm him down, but he still held his position in a protective stance as he went to push Elena behind him.

"No! Damon no! Get off of me!" Elena struggled in his tight grip that was pinning her arms against her sides, pinning her back to a box.

"You do not get a say in this." His face was inches from hers, his blue eyes alight and burning like two incandescent blue flames.

"Katherine is the only one who knows where Elijah is." Elena said, still under Damons glare.

"My point exactly. _They_ are not to be trusted. You will be _killed_." He drew the word out, trying to drill it into the head of the girl he loved that she would die. His arms were just by her neck, a hand on either side, and he could tell that she was affected by his closeness in some way..

Elena built up her guard. He wouldn't give in. Damon didn't care who died just as long as Elena was safe, and that included Bonnie, and Elena knew that. But the only person who knew Klaus better than anyone, would be his brother, and hopefully he would know what Klaus wants with Bonnie. Her only other option was to find Stefan, he would know all of his plans, but that would be impossible. You wouldn't find him if he didn't want to be found. He would find you.

"You can't stop me."

"Oh really?" Damon raised his eyebrows at the human girl. Elena's eyes widened. _Hell no. _She went to escape, but he already had her. Damon picked her up, kicking and screaming, flung her over his back, and walked to the edge of the tower.

"Damon Salvatore, put me the hell down!" He was ignoring her deliberately and she hated it.

"Just remember, you asked for it." He said, and threw himself over the old railings, braced himself, and as his muscles rippled under his shirt, he absorbed the impact as his feet touched the ground, barely even making a sound. He carried on walking and Elena fell silent as they reached the door that Caroline was guarding with Tyler and Jeremy. It was clear that there was no budging him. She huffed and leaned an elbow on his shoulder.

"Knock the ladder down when they're done Blondie."

Caroline rolled her eyes and nodded. Why all the names?

"You can put me down now." Elena mumbled softly.

Damon narrowed his eyes at her, and reluctantly loosened his grip so she could slide out and open the car door. Elena was about to climb into the drivers seat, but Damon lifted her into the passenger seat. Damon closed the door and clicked in his seatbelt, holding out a hand for the keys. After a couple of seconds Elena handed them over, grumbling to herself, and wrapping her arms around her knees that were pulled up to her chest as Damon slotted the key into the ignition was about to pull out of the clearing, when he saw Elena reaching for the door handle. He tutted at her, clicking her belt in and jamming the locks into place he pulled out of the clearing and drove back to the boarding house where Aunt Avery was sitting on a strange red cushion that looked like a futon with her legs crossed and was knitting with a herbal tea. Her ancient beauty always seemed to amaze Elena, how graceful and elegant she could look when she was so old and tiny that she looked like a beautifully hand crafted Chinese doll. She smiled when she sensed them come in through the door.

"Welcome home children." She said, taking a sip of her tea. Damon rolled his eyes at her old woman-ness, and Elena scolded him.

"Hey Avery." Elena called happily going to sit beside her as the woman closed her eyes.

"Bonnie will be here soon. They have done what they had to do and everyone is safe." She said, giving Elena a knowing look that Damon caught as it flashed between them. Elena breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was okay. And that also meant Katherine. Damon was beside her in a second.

"You are not going anywhere." His voice was menacingly low. If he had his way, she would not be leaving his sight.

Elena sighed and got up from the floor. "Thank you for saving my life today Damon." She trailed up the stairs, and hesitated at the door for Stefan's room before going inside. There was no escape. Now for once in her life and as much as she hated to, she would have to rely on Katherine.

Katherine had waited a long time just to make sure the coast was clear. There was a loud thud as Caroline shoved the ladder down and as it shattered across the floor. Another thud as the door was slammed shut, and another as she jumped down from her hiding place behind a huge black crate that she'd ripped open and had drunk the bottles of corked blood that been stored inside. She licked the last remnants of blood from her lips and inhaled the air, taking in deeply Elijah's scent as she stalked towards the opposite row of cargo, and it was a while until she tracked the smell directly to a large casket made from light brown cedar wood. Katherine pressed her hands onto either side of the lid, it was nailed down, but she easily ripped it open, and then she was having seizures on the floor, rolling around and screaming, screaming, screaming until the pain went away, her face and hands stopped burning and the red welts on her hands and face healed automatically. Cautiously, she tiptoed back to the box and peered inside, the cloying smell of Vervain hung in the air. Klaus must have had a charm put onto the box by one of his witches, some kind of trap that sprayed people with the stuff when it was opened. The vampire prodded the body gently. Nope, there was nothing else. She gazed at the body that remained in a battered suit that was dead for now. Grey veins encircled his entire body, mostly around his eyes, his face and his neck. The dagger protruded at an angle from his chest, and she reached forward her hands to pull it out, when she looked at his face, actually, properly looked. He looked so serene and calm, and instead she found herself putting a hand to his cheek. Katherine remembered only one other time when he had looked so at peace.

_There was a sharp knock at the door._

"_To what do I owe the pleasure." Klaus said to the doorway where his brother entered as he waited on the king-sized bed that was furnished with ruby coloured drapes._

"_The ritual. Shall it proceed in two days time as planned?" Elijah questioned, going to stand in-front of him. He swallowed. Klaus could not know his intentions._

"_It shall..why, do you question my judgement?" Klaus raised his eyebrows._

_The hybrid was beside him in an instant with his hands squeezing the vampire's neck, choking him._

"_O..Of..c..course..not." He wheezed, Elijah's face turning even paler than his chestnut coloured robes made him look, even though they matched his beautiful brown curled hair._

"_Elijah, you are weak. You favour a human girl over your own brother. Love is your weakness. Don't be mine. Because you know what I do to the things that make me weak." He spat, and his eyes glistened as he threw him across the room and into a stack of candles that had been resting in their ornately decorated holders next to an ancient looking tapestry. Wax spewed everywhere, onto himself and onto his brother. The flames set alight his jacket, and he patted them out gently, and he waited in a heap as he let his singed fingers heal._

"_This was my favourite suit. See to it that it is cleaned for when I return." Klaus said smoothly, putting on some fresh robes from a wardrobe and leaving the wax-stained ones on the bed. He raised his nose to the air._

"_Burn the sheets and linen. Everywhere in the castle smells like her." He ordered with distaste and swept from the room._

_Soft cries came from behind a curtain that twitched, and Elijah rushed towards it, pulling the drapes out of the way and taking a frightened Katherine into his arms and wrapping his arms around her waist as she buried her head into him._

"_Shh, all will be well, Katerina." He planted a kiss onto her cheek, and they blushed a soft rose colour just like the red velvet of her gown._

"_You say that with such certainty, yet how can you be so sure?" She questioned, sniffing._

"_I give you my word." Elijah caressed her face, and looking into his eyes, he was so calm and collected that she believed him. They would be together again._

Katherine pulled the dagger from his heart and leant her head on her hands, waiting for him to wake up. She watched earnestly as the grey veins swirled away, and it was about ten minutes later when he awoke, gasping for air, and clutching at the sides of the wooden box he was in, until he saw the person that had awoken him, and he slowly put a hand to that face.

"K..Katerina?"

Aunt Avery made sure that Bonnie was fast asleep before leaving the house and shutting the door quietly behind her, she smiled cruelly. Now to set the plan in motion.

They had been floating around aimlessly now for a while, just observing what had been going on. Vicki had been checking up on Matt, and both of the girls had been checking up on Jeremy, both without being seen anymore. And now for some reason they had found themselves being drawn to the tomb underneath the church where Anna's mother had been trapped. Anna felt a lonely tear slide down her cheek. Her mother was gone. Just as she reached out a hand to touch the cold walls in the solemn darkness that surrounded them, torches instantaneously sputtered into life in holders that were attached to them, burning brighter than any fire either of them had ever seen, as the flames licked upwards scorching hot and hungry, making them both jump.

A tiny figure dipped its toes into the light from out of the shadows, and Anna blurred easily towards it, a smile playing on her face.

"You scared us!"

She said, jumping into the old-woman's tanned arms, hugging her. The old woman laughed, but it was a horrid sour sound, and the laughter did not reach her eyes.

"And bringing you back to life did not scare you even more?"

Vicki stepped hesitantly forward. Anna had told her stories of this woman, the sister of the good witch Sheila. But she was the bad witch. The one who had favoured darkness rather than light, twins, but not identical, where their powers had been split between them, both born at the same time, both just as strong.

"Of course it did." Anna replied, laughing with her and linking arms. "We are lucky to know each other." The un-dead person concluded.

"Do you remember your task?" The bad witch asked, looking at both of them with eyes that reflected the fire, she looked like a demon as she clicked her fingers.

"We must corrupt Bonnie. Draw her away from Jeremy and everyone she loves. Make her feel alone. She must go to you." They repeated in perfect unison, their eyes suddenly dead and their heads tilted to the side.

"Excellent." She grinned an evil smile that nearly cracked her face in two. "And your payment?"

"We will live again."

Avery cackled, spreading her arms to the sky as thunder crackled and lightening rippled through it.

"Not too late for the party?" A voice questioned from behind her.

"Klaus." The witch smiled and curtseyed as the handsome original approached her, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Everything ready my love?"

"Yes. The plan is in motion." She bowed her head. "Soon I will have the power of one hundred dead witches, and Bonnie Bennett, your only weakness, will be dead."

Klaus laughed darkly.

"And what are these?" He pointed to her two spies, still captivated and lost in trance.

"Lost souls. I drew them from the underworld to help me. I promise them life, and I lie. They are merely my puppets." She giggled childishly, and pointed to the left as black smoke extended from her fingers and they turned in synchronisation to follow it. "I can make them do anything I want, without being detected." She clapped her hands gleefully, and the smoky darkness wavered, them disappeared.

Klaus held out a hand towards her.

"Now for your part of the deal. I need your body."


	17. Chapter 17 Cut The Crap

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter is totally crappy, but I felt that I had to update today because I'm going to Liverpool for about five days so I won't be able to update until I get back, and I thought I'd give you something to chew on. I promise I'll keep writing while I'm away, I love you guys you are so amazing, thanks to everyone who reviewed and added my story as something you guys are brilliant and chapter sixteen was one of my favourite chapters to write – Leahlovessalvatore124!**

Chapter Seventeen – Cut The Crap

Bonnie yawned and stretched like a cat, she was about to get out of bed when she saw her Great Aunt leaning against the door frame with her arms folded and a strange looking smirk plastered across her face. In the early morning light her eyes seemed almost golden..

"Hey, are you okay..you look kinda different?" The young witch heaved herself up and over to the elderly lady who was still at the door, she reached out a hand to put it comfortingly around her shoulder, but she jerked away from it before it could reach her, eyes flashing and a low guttural growl sliding from her throat.

"Bonnie Bennett..we meet again." She chuckled, before bounding from the room. There was a loud crash from downstairs, and when Bonnie rushed after her, the door was hanging wide open, and she was no-where to be seen.

"Strange old woman." She muttered, going to make some coffee.

"Ty..I'm going to be there with you and that's that!"

They'd been arguing about this for hours. It was full moon tonight, and Tyler didn't want her there. It was stupid really. He wouldn't hurt her, she trusted him not to.

"No, you're not Care. I bit Damon. You could be next, and I don't want that. I can't control myself, and if I.._kill_..you, I will never forgive myself."

"I trust you."

Caroline took her boyfriend's warm hands into her own, but he pushed them away, shoving some stuff into a black kit bag that he had on the table, including some Wolfsbane that she had carefully crushed and wrapped up for him so that he could pour it into his water without having to touch it.

"Well don't." He snapped, storming out of the house with the bag on his shoulder and slamming the door behind him. Caroline sank to the floor. She understood where he was coming from, that he wanted her safe, but he didn't understand her. All she wanted was to be there for him, and it hurt that he wouldn't let her.

"Hey Scar!" Damon called, taking a sip of whiskey as Bonnie came into the boarding house. Bonnie scowled at him as he used the name of Mufasa's evil brother from The Lion King. He was such an ass.

"Hey Dracula." She said, sitting at the table with the grimoire, trying to ignore him as she absently flicked through the pages. Damon cleared his throat. Bonnie huffed.

"What do you want?"

"Me? Want something? Why, Bonnie, whatever do you mean?"

"Seriously, Damon, cut the crap, I'm not in the mood for playing your games today." She sighed. One day, he would get the picture, apart from their mutual interest in saving Elena's life, she hated him.

"When are you ever in the mood, oh wise little witchy one." Damon said, waving his fingers like he was chanting, and taking a little sip of his drink before placing its bottle back in his whiskey cabinet.

"If this is one of your pathetic attempts at flattery, you've got a _long_ way to go followed by a whole amount of grovelling if you want _me_ to do _you_ a favour." She spat.

"Actually, I wanted to say thank you." Damon said, and he had the pleasure of seeing Bonnies mouth fall wide open in shock. He'd caught her off guard. "For locating the warehouse where Elijah is."

"Was." Said a sly voice behind them.

"Oh, look what the Kat dragged in." Damon quipped, grabbing Katherine, the un-dead doppelgänger.

"Damon, stop." Elena said, running down the stairs.

"If you've got an actual reason why I shouldn't snap her pretty little neck right now, please, I'm all ears." He growled, still not taking his eyes off of the brown haired vampire who was smiling in his grasp.

Elena frowned.

"Wait, when you say was.." She questioned, waiting for Katherine to break into her sentence like she always did, but this time she was refusing to talk until Damon let her go.

"I swear to God you better have a good reason for coming here, or I'll twist your head so far up your a.." He said, letting Katherine go, but she cut in.

"When I say was. I mean it." She giggled, dodging out of the way as Damon lunged again.

Elena took a hesitant step towards her.

"Where is he now?" She asked pushing some hair away from her face.

"Waiting for you, actually..he wants to talk." She answered, handling random things in the room, trying to make Damon even more peeved off.

Katherine blurred to the door, signalling Elena to follow her with a flash of her conniving smile, but Damon was already there, latching hold of her.

"You are not stepping foot out of this house." His voice like a low growl. Elena was about to open her mouth to protest, but someone else got there before her.

"How convenient. Now I believe we can all have a little..chat."

Elena, and everybody else looked towards the direction of the voice, to see one gorgeous suit wearing original: Elijah.


	18. Chapter 18 Shut Up And Listen

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time! Got so many stories to write and school work to catch up on – Leahlovessalvatore124!**

Chapter Eighteen – Shut Up And Listen

"Your..how would you say it..'posse' of friends are in danger." Elijah exclaimed, sipping some of the tea that Elena had brought him, and quickly continuing before the arrogant vampire Damon could interrupt him.

"Many a days after my brother's transformation, he explained to me that now he is a full hybrid, there is something else that he wants. Power. He wants to take the life essence of the person who brought him close to death..a one Bonnie Bennett. If he harnesses the power that she draws from the hundreds of dead witches, Klaus will be limitless, and irrevocably unstoppable. It will be impossible to defeat him."

"Wait..you said friends..as in..plural?" Alaric deduced grimly with furrowed brows.

"Very much so." Elijah paused, letting it sink in.

"Spill it. What else is on Santa's _magical_ little wish list this Christmas?" Damon snorted. This guy really needed to get a life. Well, figuratively speaking.

Elijah cleared his throat.

"He also wants the doppelgänger. When Katerina was a living breathing human, Klaus was mostly blinded by his desire to release his werewolf side, that he failed to recognise her full potential. The doppelgänger is a mystical being bound in _mortal_ flesh, and is known to be a cure for many paranormal afflictions. However, when Katherine became _immortal_, the mystical properties vanished, along with his chance to become a hybrid, and, when he learned of it, the chance to posses the power and supernatural abilities of the doppelgänger, hence his grudge against Katerina for well over two centuries. The original woman was sculpted from the five building blocks of the universe: Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Day, specifically created to bind my brother's curse with her blood, and the witches that created her vowed to destroy her once the deal was sealed, but somehow she escaped, and, still carrying the powers in her bloodline, further into time, two more copies of her were created," He paused, indicating to both Katherine and Elena. "and with each ganger the powers are strengthened."

"How come I don't have any eff'd up witchy woo business going on?" Katherine slurred, drinking from a bottle of Damon's finest whiskey that she had stashed in her coat, and ignoring an annoyed 'hey' from Bonnie.

"One of the building blocks is _Day_, mainly because mortals survive in the Day, or light, but after you became a creature of _Night_, to survive in the night, or darkness, etcetera, now the abilities no longer apply to you. Elena on the other hand.." Elijah trailed off when he saw Damon's threatening expression. Bonnie cleared her throat and he continued.

"Elena, on the other hand does posses them, however, they remain un-awakened, and all she needs to do is to find the key to unlocking them." He finished, drinking from the small flowery tea-cup that he secretly loved.

"Don't give us all this 'with great power comes great responsibility' Spider Man throw-down crap, 'cause I'm not buying it." Damon snorted, drinking a whole glass of Bourbon, then pouring himself another one. He didn't trust this guy. Not after what he'd done, all the trouble he'd cause, and now he was back from outer space or where-ever with some superman quiff and a plan promising to help? Yeah, right.

"I did not intend to double cross you, howeve.."

"You see that's just it, isn't it? No one 'intends'," Damon snapped a little drunkly, taking the mickey out of Elijah's posh English accent, and sticking his nose in the air. Bonnie muffled a little snort. She had to admit it, he was good.

"to do anything, but there you go! It just happens the hell anyway!" Damon continued, dizzily making his way up the stairs, and grabbing onto the handrail when he tripped. When he got to the top, he chugged down his glass of alcohol and threw the glass across the room watching it smash against a wall.

"If we need a lying, cheating, ass-hole, then I know where to look." He finished, laughing to himself, and the old-one had him pinned against the wall in a second.

"I find your tone _incredibly_ dis-respectful young man." Elijah growled, eyes flashing with hot malice, letting his composure slip for just a second.

Damon chuckled breathlessly in his grasp.

"Quite frankly, I don't give even a fraction of a damn about your original back-side, granddaddy." He smiled sweetly, and the hands closed tighter around his neck, and his eyes widened.

"Now that you have made that clear for me, I will make something _perfectly_ clear for you." He said, slamming the young vampires head into the wall, and ignoring Elena's hands that were frantically trying to pull them apart.

"Are you or are you not in love with her?" Elijah whispered to Damon, for their ears only and signalling to Elena with an almost imperceptible nod of his head. When Damon didn't answer after half a minute, he slammed his head again, and watched two paintings fall from the walls.

"I asked you a question." A low snarl slid from between his gritted teeth.

"I..don't..answer..to you." Damon spat, practically wheezing from the lack of oxygen that he needed to talk.

"I suggest you answer it if you want to live." Vehemence dripped from his voice as he leaned closer, whispering in his ear.

Damon huffed, and Elijah released a little.

"Yes." He replied weakly, rubbing his neck.

"And you would do anything for her?"

Damon nodded.

"Then no matter how much you hate me, and want to rip my guts out, it is important that I tell you this, and it is important that for once in your damned little life you shut up and listen."

Damon sighed as Elijah let go, and put his arm around Elena who escorted him to the sofa, thinking he was a little shaky, when she was the one shaking. She didn't want to lose another person she cared about. If anyone tried to take him from her, she would cling onto Damon with everything she had.

"My brother knew that you would find a way to salvage Elena from dying in the ritual, so after he gained his hybrid form, he plotted to claim the next thing he wants most from just the one doppelgänger, power."

Bonnies mouth fell wide open. Just when she'd thought everything was getting back to normal, they all had to get stuck in the middle of it all over again. Why the heck did everything have to be happening to them, and why did everything have to happen to Elena? She'd already been through so much, couldn't people just leave her be!

"So now what? Klaus and..Stefan.." Elena winced at the name of her 'boyfriend' as it hurt her to say it. Damon's arms tightened around her instinctively. "are coming to get me as well as Bonnie?" She asked, leaning back into the sofa feeling suddenly depressed.

"That is correct." Elijah answered, placing the empty tea-cup on the side table. His face twisted into a frown. He had never wished anything bad on someone as caring and accepting of their kind as Elena.

"Basically, we need Elena to unlock some crapped-up Sabrina business to play Little Red Riding Hood and save the day by taking the Big Bad Wolf on, all on her own?" Damon questioned with a 'no way in hell' look on his face.

Thankfully, Elijah shook his head and Damon blew out a sigh of relief.

"No, not unless you want to die, that is," Elena went to stand up, but Damon pushed her back down. There was no way she was dying on his watch. And now that there was no smitten little Stefan on the scene, it seemed that his watch lasted forever.

"You say one word and I swear.."

"You swear you'll do what? I'm going to die someday, and if the choice between the people I love and myself is the choice that I have to make, the deal's already done."

Elijah cleared his throat. He was going to make sure that no-one died.

"One way or another, my brother must die. And if you want to defeat him without a serial number of casualties, I suggest that you take him on together, if you want any chance in succeeding what so ever." He said, going to perch on the edge of a couch opposite Elena.

"So I need to have these special powers if we want to survive?" Elena asked, a frown creasing her forehead.

"Correct."

"But I don't have them." She said sadly, looking down.

"Not yet." He replied optimistically.

"Have you any idea why that is?" Elena bit her lip.

"That unfortunately, I cannot tell you, for reasons of certain importance, it is best that you figure it out for yourself, which of course, I am sure you indeed will." The original exclaimed, straightening out his suit and flashing a smile, trying to make the mood lighter, and you could tell all Damon wanted to do right now was to take a swing at him.

"Now what, we just sit here and wait for him to attack tonight at full moon?" Alaric chipped in, who had been sitting quietly and listening to what everyone had to say, unlike Bonnie, who was frantically whispering to Elena that she hadn't realised that it was tonight. Alaric always kept up to date, and he checked his watch. 11:54. Tonight it was set to be dead on midnight. Tyler would be beginning his transformation round about now.

"No, you will prepare yourselves. My guess, is that he will attack during the next full moon, when he is at his strongest. He won't attack tonight, he would have sensed me awaken, and knows that you now have the upper hand."

"Oh, I know a lot of things." I familiar voice tinted with darkness cackled from the shadows. There was a splitting rippling sound, and Great Aunt Avery stood before them, her arm twisted behind her back, crippled into an impossible angle above her head that was cocked to the side, swivelling around like the head of an owl, eyes impossibly golden, teeth sharp and glittering, swelling and bulging out of her mouth. As she moved, she almost slithered towards them, on all fours, pulling herself along and gliding smoothly, all of her limbs disfigured and fracturing wildly as she reached the group.

"Avery what happened?" Bonnie said, rushing towards the woman who she thought was her Great Aunt, positioned weirdly on the floor like an ugly terrifying broken doll, who's eyes glinted evilly as a devilish smile spread and cracked its way across her face.

"Bonnie..no!" Elena screamed in realisation, running towards her, and beating Damon with her fists and everything she had as he held her away from her best friend in a tight grasp.

Bonnie turned around, startled, confusion written across her features as Alaric dashed at her, seeing the 'old woman' raise her palm in a claw shape behind Bonnies turned head, nails extending, fur trying to push its way out of her skin. When the young witches' head finally faced the monster, the head was on the floor, twisted to the side, blood oozing down its cheek, eyes frozen wide open in terror.

**A/N: Thankyou for everyone who reviewed and alerted and for all the support when I didn't update – Leahlovessalvatore124!**


	19. Chapter 19 Time To Say Goodbye

**A/N: Thankyou for all the alerts and support, you guys are amazing!**

Chapter Nineteen – Time To Say Goodbye

"Damon let go of me! Let go! It's Bonnie! She's my best friend, let me go!" Elena screamed, pounding her clenched hands against Damon's chest when she felt no release. Tears fell down her face, emotions rushed through her. Anger, pure bitter hatred, everything boiling up, brewing inside of her, she gathered it all together in one long deep breath, and felt it shooting out of her, as she blew it out, shoving Damon away from her and sending him flying through the air, crashing down on the other side of the room.

Alaric was still rushing at Klaus, shoving him into the wall, grabbing a stake from his pocket, taking aim and thrusting it towards the hybrid in disguise, only to find a hand locking his arm in an iron hold with almost impossible strength, pushing his arm back, twisting it behind him until it crunched and he let out a loud yelp of pain, falling onto the floor as the monster rose above him, and he felt his eyes waver, felt them starting to shut. One voice stood out in the dull numbness that was beginning to surround him.

"Alaric..no..stay with me..Bonnie.."

Elena felt for a pulse. Bonnie's was dull, ebbing further and further away by the second.

Alaric's hand stretched out towards her, slowly taking her hand in his, that annoyingly after uncle-John had taken it a while back, held no ring.

"R..run." He choked off, and his eyes rolled back into his head, his hand slipping from hers, cold and limp as it fell to his side.

"No..no..this can't be happening." She said, wiping her nose and eyes on her sleeve, still cradling Alaric's head in her lap and stroking Bonnie's hair as the hybrid almost crawled towards her, it's body still crackling and twisting, a muzzle extending and forming on it's face, froth pouring like it had rabies, looking horribly distorted coming from an old woman's mouth.

"Come, my lovely." Klaus said, extending a furry hand towards her, claws pushing themselves half way out as he controlled his transformation. He could transform at will, it didn't matter if it was a full moon or not, he would be able to transform anyway.

Elena looked at it in disgust. He expected her to go with him after everything he'd done? Hell no. There was no way she was stepping even a toenail towards him.

"She is not going anywhere with you, brother." A voice spat from behind the hybrid, and he turned around to face it.

"Ah, Elijah, old friend!" He said, raising his arms as if he was happy to see him, being careful to keep one eye on Elena at the same time so that she wouldn't escape.

Elijah smiled coldly, barking out a small hard laugh.

"You are no friend of mine."

He nodded at Elena almost imperceptibly, indicating her to shuffle backwards slowly.

To be honest, Elena knew that when the chance came for her to run, she knew she wouldn't be able to. Her legs felt frozen, her heart felt frozen, everything so cold, it hurt to think, it hurt to feel, to do anything was effort. But she carefully manoeuvred Alaric's head from her knees, brushing a hand down his face and closing his eyes, as she put her hands behind her back, ready to push herself along if she had to, ready to try.

"That's a little harsh don't you think?" Klaus said, taking one step towards the original vampire, one step away from Elena. Elena's fingertips touched the wooden floor, and she pushed herself half an inch backwards. As she did so, she took in the sight around her. Katherine was nowhere to be seen, she must have fled when she could, when everyone was distracted.

Now it was like treading on a mine-field. One false move and everything would end suddenly, swiftly. But Elena wasn't moving towards the door, she needed to get to Damon first. She needed him.. With tonight being a full moon, any vampire would be vulnerable..

_Caroline. _Elena thought, eyes widening. Tyler was turning tonight, and where was her friend? She'd called her upstairs when Damon and Bonnie were fighting, she'd figured Caroline would need a distraction instead of worrying about her boyfriend, but, in the end, it was obvious she hadn't come.

And something else that made her head spin was the fact that she had been able to push Damon across the room with such strength that he'd actually hit the wall and passed out.

_Must be those weird powers Elijah was talking about. _She thought.

Guilt wrestled with her, and she struggled, fighting it as it tried to over-power her.

"Don't even think about trying to run." A voice said from behind her, slicing into her mind drama.

"I won't." Elena answered truthfully, not bringing herself to look up at the golden-eyed Klaus who had taken over Avery's body, because if she did, she knew she wouldn't be able to control herself. Elijah looked confused at her answer, and as Elena began to stand up, he sped easily to her side, shielding her from his brother. He was the only thing standing between Elena and the girl meeting her death.

"Smart girl." Klaus quipped, taking one smooth step forwards.

Elena didn't move. The whole atmosphere was threatening. If Klaus said she was smart, she would play this smart, get as much out of this before he did whatever he wanted with her.

"Not smart enough to know why you..took out.." Elena paused, not wanting to say killed, when there was maybe a tiny smidgen of hope left for her to pray on. "Bonnie, when you want her too." Elena said, taking a small step backwards..

"Natural instincts, I guess." He quipped in a sing song voice, laughing, and dancing another step, but there was some secret reason behind his voice that she didn't understand and didn't question..

Elijah leaned into a fighting stance in-front of the human, a low guttural hiss sliding from his mouth.

Elena could feel the volcano again. Building deep inside of her. Her eyes burned, flashing green, and somehow she wasn't afraid. She watched satisfied as Klaus's face paled. He knew what was happening, and that meant her suspicions were correct. She had unlocked some of her powers. Elena touched her eyes, and her fingers glowed too. She stretched out her hands, palms facing upwards towards the enemy, and Elena watched happily as the glow extended from her fingers, out towards Klaus as he staggered gracefully backwards.

"Bring them back." She said, indicating to the two bodies of her friends, Ric and Bonnie, knowing that Damon would be fine, he was just unconscious.

"How about..no?" Klaus said, a sickly smile spreading across the face of the body he was hiding in.

"How about I hunt down your body, and kill you?" Elena replied, her voice as strong as he felt. "You know I'm strong enough." She continued.

Klaus shrugged his shoulders. Casually closing some more distance.

"Why must we always fight? Can't we settle this like civilized adults?" His voice changed, sounding angelic, almost like a lure, a lure that wasn't working for Elena.

"There is no we, Klaus." Elena said, the green tendrils reaching him, snaking round his neck, about to tighten around him.

"O..kay..okay..it's a deal." He choked off, and the wisps formed a loose collar-like structure around him, lifting him off of the ground and towing him gently to hover over Alaric. One of the tendrils glided towards him, it's tail sharp and pointy like a miniature stalagmite, and it dragged it across the meaty pad of the hybrid's finger. One bead of blood hung like a dew drop as it fell combined with a touch of green smoke into Ric's mouth that Elijah was holding open for Elena.

When it went to hover over Bonnie the mist began to gently sway, and fade, like someone had just blown out a candle, and the only thing that was left was the smell and the smoke that drifted from the wick. It released Klaus, and flowed almost invisible back to where it had come from.

"No..Bonnies still..she's..no..No! Come back! Come back!" She shouted at the last ribbons of mist as they snaked away, tears leaving trails down her face. This wasn't fair. They couldn't just leave without bringing back Bonnie..that hadn't been the deal..

Klaus got up off of the floor, dusting himself off. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I bid you.."

"Goodnight."

A voice purred from behind him, and then black. Avery's body slumped into a pile on the floor, it's neck torn and savaged, as Katherine tore her teeth from the wound, she licked the last bits of blood covering her mouth.

"Katherine?"

"The one and only." She answered, grinning a smile that didn't reach her eyes when she saw Elijah.

Elijah straightened up immediately, speeding out of the boarding house with a look on his face that Elena didn't quite understand.

"What's got his old-fashioned boxers in a bunch." She grumbled, absent-mindedly surveying the damage.

"Thank you." Elena gasped out, breathless with all the emotions and grief that ran through her. She saw Katherine's body jolt as the vampire turned to face her.

"No, I should thank you, Elena." She whispered, and then she was gone too.

Elena hugged her knees into her chest, feeling so alone, when she suddenly remembered Alaric. Elena rushed to him, pressing her fingers to the side of his neck, and breathing a sigh of relief when there was a dull thrumming underneath them. He would wake up soon.

She felt so guilty. Bonnie would never wake up again. Never say something that would brighten her day and cheer her up, never have those pointlessly funny arguments with Damon where all along they'd secretly be friends..

_Damon._ She thought, and gasped as the name jolted her out of her reverie.

"Oh my God. Damon. Damon!" She cried, rushing towards him, leaping over the straddled paintings, dried blood and crushed glass to get to him. A whole bookcase was on top of him, and Elena hurriedly pushed it off, finding she was much stronger than before. Books were littered all over him, and she pushed them off as if they weighed nothing more than a bit of dust. There was a long thin jagged cut next to his left ear. Elena felt so bad. She'd done this to him. It was her fault.

She pressed a hand to his cheek, stroking it.

"I'll make it better, I promise." She whispered, kissing his lips once softly. Elena paused for a second. Something was stirring deep inside of her..but he would never know...

She huffed, and then drew back, grabbing a sliver of glass from the whiskey glass he'd smashed earlier, and without flinching or closing her eyes, quickly striking it across the green spidery vein in her right wrist. She blew out a deep breath at the sight of the blood running down her arm, and easily positioned Damon's head in her lap, cradling it in her hands as she pressed the wound to his mouth.

"Please work..please." She prayed, stroking his hair with her other hand and rocking him back and forth. Even though Elena was beginning to think it was too late, she would never give up hope, and after a couple of minutes of the nervous silence that was almost depressing, she nearly jumped for joy when she felt a gradual sucking on her right wrist. Elena realised he was too weak, so she held his head there gently. Elena felt him getting stronger, taking bigger gulps, and she gradually released her hands until he could do it on his own. She saw the cut on his head heal, and it was almost comforting. Almost. She hated herself. She'd done this. If she hadn't made a scene, Bonnie wouldn't have turned her head away, would have seen Klaus raising his claws. Alaric would become alive again, but she'd basically given him a death sentence too, and now Damon. She'd knocked him unconscious, hurt him, and made him bleed. To her it didn't matter if it hadn't been intentional. What if Damon hated her? She just about managed to contain a shudder. Elena didn't know if she could cope with that. Damon unhooked his mouth from her wrist.

"You didn't have to do that." He stuttered, reaching up to press a hand to the face of the woman he loved.

"Yes..I did. I..I thought you were.." She choked out, tears clouding her eyes. She couldn't finish, couldn't say it. Elena'd thought she'd lost him. And now she knew that Damon meant a lot more to her than she ever could have imagined, then she ever let on. In less than an instant, his arms were around her, pulling her into him, his hand pressing her head into the crook of his neck.

"Y..you can..hate me if you want." Elena whispered, her voice trembling.

"Where did you hit yourself, because I think it was your head." He replied, the corners of his lips curling upwards just a tiny bit. She didn't answer, and he felt her shaking in his arms, felt the tears dampen his shirt.

"Shh..it's alright. I'm fine." He soothed, living in the pleasure that Elena was in his arms.

"Alaric's not, and Bonnie's..Bonnie's..Bonnie's dead." She whispered at last, pointing to the still olive-skinned body laying motionless on the floor.

Damon tore his eyes from the girl in his arms to the dead girl, and his breath caught. His little witchy was dead? He felt his eyes glaze over. But he wouldn't cry, not now, he had to be strong for Elena. The next thing he felt was anger. He would get Klaus for this. He would avenge her, he would make sure of it.

Damon walked over to Alaric, hand in hand with Elena.

"Klaus gave a tiny part of his life essence to Alaric, because I was going to kill him, with my new found powers, but I don't know what happened, all of it vanished when we got to Bonnie, it was like , I don't know, something didn't want her to live." She sniffed, and they both leant down next to Alaric. Damon put a hand on Ric's shoulder, and there was the sound of air whooshing through lungs. Alaric's head shot up, and he gripped Damon's arm.

"Did I just die again?" He croaked, coughing a little and clearing his throat.

"Pretty much." Damon answered, tearing up.

"Damon Salvatore..are you..crying?" Alaric asked with squinty eyes like he thought he was seeing things.

"Don't push it, Ricky boy." Damon said with a sad grin, and Alaric didn't need to be told, as from the corner of his eye he'd already seen Bonnie laying on the floor like a motionless porcelain doll that someone had just trodden on and abandoned.

Damon sighed, looking at the mess around him that he'd have to clear up, including what he knew he had to do with the dead witch and her Great Aunt. He knew Elena wouldn't approve, and if Bonnie were alive, she would kill him for just dumping her body in a ditch. It was just another day for Damon.

"You better go. I'll deal with this." He whispered to Elena, squeezing her hand and then reluctantly letting it go.

It took a few minutes for Elena to register what he was actually saying.

"What do you mean deal with this?" She spluttered. "This is Bonnie! You can't just dump her in a pile of dirt by the side of the road, she wouldn't want that!" Elena snapped, and she could feel her eyes flashing again, but she remembered what had happened earlier, and she managed to contain it. Elena walked over to the body of her best-friend, kneeling beside her, tears made fresh tracks down her cheeks, and a couple of them fell onto the face of the dead girl as she leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"I know. But who wants another visit from Buffy the vampire slaying sheriff? Me think not." Damon quipped, trying to lighten the mood. Elena frowned up at him, her face plastered with disgust. He hated it when she looked at him like that, he'd gotten that look so many times before that he'd lost count. He seemed to be doing a lot of things that she didn't approve of lately.

"You think this is funny? She was my best-friend. Does that not mean anything to you?" She spat. Now she was getting angry.

"Well..we weren't exactly linked at the hip, Elena." He replied. It would only be easier if he did it like this. If he pretended that it wasn't Bonnie that he was going to dig a hole for, to just leave her to rot in. Truth be told, he would miss her. He would miss her a lot. Maybe even more than a lot. He didn't know. The grief hadn't hit him yet. But when it did..

"That's not true and you know it." Elena spat. Her whole body was shaking.

She was right, it wasn't true, and Damon had the sense to keep his mouth shut this time.

Elena sniffed, knowing what came next, knowing what she had to do, and she went to sit by her friend.

"I'll see you again..I promise. And just think..while you're waiting..you can be with..grams again." Elena smiled despite her tears and shaky voice, she knew that Bonnie would be watching her from where-ever she was right now. She knew it was the right thing to say.

Damon's heart ached, his whole body felt woozy. Elena was hurting right now, and what he was saying wasn't helping. He didn't like seeing her like this. But he understood what she was doing, why she was doing it. Because it was time to say goodbye.

"Hey..do you remember that time..when you cut all the hair off of Caroline's Barbie, and me and you decided that we were going to be Best-Friend's for always?" Elena paused, letting out a sad little laugh as she thought back. "Well let me tell you something. Always means always." Elena hugged the body. She knew Bonnie wasn't really there any more. She was in some-place good.

She just about stopped the heart wrenching sobs as they tried to force their way out of her.

Carefully releasing the girl, Elena wiped her puffy red eyes on her sleeve.

"Say hi to Mom and Dad for me."

Elena took a candle from one of the side tables, holding it in her hands, she thought only of Bonnie and all of the amazing things they'd done together. In an instant a breath of warm air surrounded her, and she opened her eyes to see the candle wick bursting into flame. Elena smiled to herself, placing the candle beside her friend. Whether it was her powers or a sign from Bonnie, it didn't matter..

**A/N: Thankyou to everyone who alerted, reviewed and read the story!**

**Let me know:**

**What you think/want to happen next**

**Did you want Bonnie to die..**

**I would love to hear your guesses on what would happen if Damon does find out that Elena kissed him when he was unconscious..or if deep down does he already know..**

**You will see a softer side to Damon in the next chapter**

**Let me remind you though, in this story ANYTHING can happen! No one is safe!**

**- Leahlovessalvatore124 xxx.**


	20. Chapter 20 Lose Another Person

**A/N: Here's a very emotional Bamon/Donnie (whatever you wanna call it) scene, and Damon's first time of jabbing the past at Elena (first time of many to come). Enjoy! - Leahlovessalvatore124**

Chapter Twenty – Lose Another Person

"**Call all your friends,**

**Tell them I'm never coming back.**

**'Cause this is the end,**

**Pretend that you want it,**

**Don't react.**

**The damage is done,**

**The police are coming,**

**Too slow now.**

**I would have died,**

**I would have loved you,**

**All my life.**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory..now.**

**Where have you gone?**

**The beach is so cold in,**

**Winter here.**

"Radio sucks." Damon muttered, wiping his eyes, and turning off the one in his car as he drove to the witch house. He thought it was best if she was buried here, since it was one of the place's she'd felt like home. Great Aunt Avery, on the other hand, he'd chucked her down a steep hole on the side of a cliff, she wasn't important, but Bonnie was. She was special.

"**And where have I gone?**

**I wake in Montauk,**

**With you near.**

**Remember the day,**

**'Cause this is what dreams should,**

**Always be.**

**I just want to stay,**

**I just want to keep this,**

**Dream in me.**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory..**

**Wake up it's time,**

**Little girl, wake up!**

**All the best of what we've done**

**Is yet to come.**

**Wake up it's time,**

**Little girl, wake up!**

**Just remember who I am in the morning!**

He silently lifted the young girls body out of the trunk with her grimoire and Elena's candle that he thought she might want to be buried with, and a shovel, and her head rested half on his shoulder, her arms draping down Damon's sides. He laid her on the front steps as he dug a shallow grave to the side of the witch house. He couldn't dig a deep one, because the more he dug the more he felt the painful grief overwhelm him. Damon didn't bother to look where the shovel landed when he threw it down onto the dirt. He picked up Bonnie again, and her peaceful face made one single tear fall from his eyes as he placed her in the ditch with her things and filled in a weak ceiling above her. He dug the shovel into the ground by the head of the grave, and just for a moment, leaned on it, closing his eyes.

"Bonbon..if you're out there..I'm sorry little witchy." He choked off, giving a sad smile to the black sky. Leaves swirled around him, and he knew someone had heard.

"**You're losing your memory now! **

**You're losing your memory now!**

**You're losing your memory now!**

**You're losing your memory..**

"Jeremy won't talk to me, he won't come out of his room for anyone. He just slammed the door in my face and locked himself away, Damon. I don't know how he's going to cope, he's lost so many people, it's not fair." Elena explained to Damon who was sitting on her bed waiting for her when she spat in the sink, finished brushing her teeth and went to join him.

"How are you doing?"

Elena asked, taking Damon's hand in hers. She felt him flinch, and dropped it. He still wasn't used to her doing that, he would usually miss-interpret it, but this time he was spot on, and Elena found herself feeling guilty. She loved Stefan. She had to keep telling herself that, or someday she'd forget, and she didn't want that..

"Top of the world, Elena." He said sarcastically, flashing her a sad smile. When he didn't see that same blush in her cheeks that he usually did, his eyes narrowed. "Hmm..is it me or is there an _awful_ lot of secrecy in this room?" He asked her, trying to look into the eyes that wouldn't look at him. She fidgeted nervously. He couldn't know. He couldn't find out.

Damon rolled his eyes. Whatever it was he'd get it out of her eventually, one day or another.

"And how're you feeling brown eyes?" Damon questioned huskily.

"Fine..I feel fine." Elena said, lowering her gaze and fiddling with a loose thread on her duvet.

Damon sighed.

"Fine is _not_ a feeling, Elena."

Elena looked up at him, but there were walls in her eyes, like there was something there that she didn't want him to see. He could tell she'd been crying. That was a given. Her best-friend had just gone hasta la vista, baby, without so much as a bon voyage, and Elena of all people was going to be skipping along merrily into the sunset any-time soon? Yeah, right.

"I just don't understand how talking is going to just miraculously change anything." She whispered.

"Talking changes a _lot_ of things, _trust_ me. If it wasn't for talking, what would I do with all my amazing one-liners about Tyler the moon-mutt?" Damon asked rhetorically, and his eyes twinkled when he saw her crack the smallest of smiles. He was about to ask her what was really wrong, when he saw her face blanch.

"Caroline. Oh my God, Damon, Caroline! I forgot, again! How can I be so stupid!" Elena said, leaping off the bed and running downstairs.

"What the hell are you on about?" Damon still hadn't caught on as he rushed after her.

"Tyler told me to get Caroline away from him, to get her to stay at the boarding house tonight, but she never showed. I called her when I got home, but it went straight to voice-mail." She said hurriedly, taking off her slippers and pulling on her boots.

"And you're going out _why_?" Damon's eyes flashed, and he sped to the door. Yes, she was as strong as him now, maybe even stronger, she would be able to push past if she wanted to, but she had to have strong emotions rushing through her to use her powers, and they both knew that she would never use them on him again, not after what had happened tonight.

"Something might have happened to her Damon, we both know Caroline can't have stayed away from Tyler, not when he needs her the most, even if he told her to go. I'm the only one who can get to her now without getting hurt." Elena hastily wrapped her coat around her and began searching for her house-keys and a flash-light. There was no-way she was going to lose to friends in one night.

Damon cleared his throat.

"Oh no, you are not coming with me. If I'm in trouble, I will just kick-ass with my super-hero mojo, you are _not_ getting involved, Damon, not when there is the possibility of you getting killed." Elena's hands found the keys after two minutes of rummaging through one of the drawers in the kitchen. She felt a shiver skitter down her spine at the thought.

"Aww, scared you're gonna have to kiss me again?" Damon pouted, half-feigning disappointment.

Elena flinched, and for a couple of seconds her eyes flashed green, fear, worry, shock, love and guilt all blurring into one. Mostly she felt pain. Elena couldn't bare it. It had been gut wrenchingly painful, even more than that, just watching him wither away, helpless, that night at the boarding house when he'd been close to death and there had been nothing else she could do to change his fate, she'd kissed him on his death bed when she'd thought she was going to lose him. It meant enough to her for it to forever be burned into her mind, a painful bitter-sweet moment that had changed instantly.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second as the glow faded. She was facing Damon, and he was watching her every move with scrutiny. Elena knew he'd done that on purpose, that he'd been waiting for a chance to bring it up all along, and now he'd gone and confronted her with it at a really impossible time. He was playing her into a corner, trying to get her to stay with him, where she would be safe, where she would always be safe. But she was doing this for Caroline. For him. She had to make sure Tyler was under control, had to know so that they both would both be safe.

Elena reasoned with saying, 'Scared you're going to have to beg me?' but she let it go. She knew it wouldn't help the situation, and also because she wondered to herself, what if begging wasn't necessary anymore? She sighed. She really didn't have time for this.

"You and I can either talk about this now, when Caroline is probably being bitten to death and ripped to shreds by a were-wolf and I lose another person that I care about, or, how about when the whole world isn't crashing down on my shoulders? Your choice, Damon." Elena reasoned, slamming the front door that Damon had stopped guarding, and sprinting as fast as she could into the woods to the old Lockwood mansion.

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now,**

**You're losing your memory now..**

Deep down in the ground, something resonated up through the earth, like a finger twitching, like a distant sigh.

Grass swayed in the sudden wind.

Leaves swirled.

But one sound stood more resolute than the others.

A candle flickered to life.

**A/N: So here it is! Cliffhanger until maybe Friday! And let me tell you, this is only the beginning of Elena's struggle with her deep attraction to Damon! Thanks to you lovely readers and LadyElena17 for her review and alert – you are so awesome – thanks again guys! Can I ask you a quick question?**

**Did any of you NOT want Bonnie to die, or are you okay with her being dead?**

**I really do not have a clue so far how to write Damon finding out about the unconscious-kiss, for when he does/if he find/finds out, so if you have any ideas that you wanna share (please do I'm stuck as hell) they are totally welcome! - Leahlovessalvatore124**


	21. Chapter 21 Lockwoof

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while I have been piled down with soo many essays and school work! I'm ill and off school so I just had to update! Thanks to all the reviews and alerts they are so supportive and much appreciated – love you guys – Leahlovessalvatore124 (:**

Chapter Twenty One - Lockwoof

Damon didn't care. He was dead anyway, so what did one more time matter, if it meant saving the girl he loved. He sped after her, sprinting into the forest after her, being careful to stick to the shadows. He flipped his cell-phone silently out of his pocket. The caller picked up after two rings.

"Hi Damon." They answered, the voice was deep and sounded as if it had been drinking alcohol.

"Hey Ric! Buddy! Where are you?" Damon whispered, still walking and being careful not to step on anything that would give him away.

"At the grill. Downing half a ton of whiskey...what do you want Damon?"

"In ten words or less: Elena duty, Lockwoof, Mystic Woods, be there in five."

"Why? What's going down? What's happening?" There was the sounds of footsteps and an engine thrumming gently.

"That's more than ten words Ricky." Damon said, pressing end call and racing further into the woods.

Elena was nearly at the old Lockwood place, and she felt her heart frantically pounding in her chest. What if something had happened to Caroline?

What if something had happened to Tyler?

But she had to push those thoughts from her mind, she couldn't think like that. Not now.

She got that feeling that someone or something was watching her. That something was out there ready to strike, to grab her.

There was a rustle in the bushes behind her. Now her heart was hammering, pumping power to her ears, to her eyes. The torch flashed dimly, fading, and she whacked it with her hand, but it just faded out, leaving her standing stranded in the darkness. This time the sound was closer. A twig snapped. Something wanted to kill her. To jump her in the darkness. Elena's breathing came thick and fast she ran faster, not looking where she was going, when something snagged her, caught her foot, pulling her across the leafy ground. She tried to scream, but it got caught in her throat, she couldn't breathe, someone's warm hand was clasped firmly over her mouth, choking her. She focused on everything that made her feel angry: Bonnie's death, Klaus, her boyfriend being lead astray, all of the lives lost.

And the things that made her happy: Holding hands with Stefan, their first kiss, her friends and family, Damon always being there for her, always brightening her day, his eyes that were so blue so clear and full of admiration for her, laughing together at the sixties dance, all of the simple things that made her complete, and she felt them burst straight out of her in a monumental flash of grass-green light, sending the leaves scattering in flurries of copper off of the trees, the body that had grabbed her flying into an old oak tree behind her. And then she concentrated, and the green glow flooded to her right hand, and she shone it around her. Elena's mouth dropped open. Ah, crap. Caroline would kill her. There was Matt Donovan, hunched up in an unconscious pile covered with leaves, and strapped to his back was a huge brown musket, wood-tipped bullets scattered around him from his jacket.

"Oh..God." Elena sunk to the floor next to him, tears pricking her eyes. Was he dead?

A twig snapped from in-front of her, and there were sounds of heavy footfalls. Elena crawled on her hands and knees round to the other-side of the tree, hardly daring to breathe, her back pressed up against it until she felt the wood pinch her skin, and tucking her hand into her pocket. The sounds of someone breathing bit into the silence, and Elena knew it wasn't her. She grabbed a piece of fallen wood that was by the floor by her feet and held it up like a club. There was a skittering sound from the other side of the oak. Elena inched forward slightly, and so did the unknown.

Elena braced herself.

3..2..1.

In one smooth movement she twisted round, the wood raised high, ready to hit something, and then it slowly slid out of her fingers.

"Sh..Sheriff Forbes?" She gasped, relief rushing through her.

"Elena? What are you doing here.." Her voice trailed off at the sight of Matt slumped up against a tree.

"What happened?"

Caroline's mother felt for a pulse.

"He..I..some wood fell on him and he passed out." Elena finished, looking down guilty. This was the bit about this life that she hated. She hated having to lie all the time.

The Sheriff didn't look convinced.

"Hang on..how are you here?" Elena asked taking a step backwards. She had a funny feeling that something was wrong with the Sheriff.

"I saw something flash, my lovely." She continued, smiling and dancing forward a little further. Elena's mouth dropped open. Klaus.

"Yeah, it was your life flashing before your eyes, fluff-ball, when I kick your furry back-side." Growled a voice from behind her.

"Ah, Mr Salvatore, how nice of you to join us." The original body grabber said.

"You can stuff the milk and cookies chit-chat. I'm on a diet." Damon quipped, blurring to Elena. And grabbing the hand that wasn't in her pocket, getting ready to pull her away.

"Why are you here, Damon? After everything that I said, you just couldn't stay put could you?" She huffed. Damon rolled his eyes. So she was allowed to be the unstoppable martyr with a death wish, and he just had to tag merrily along like her little pet lap dog? Er, hell no.

"Look who's talking, stubborn ass." Damon shot back. "Now we are going home, to some-place where you can't get yourself _killed_."

Klaus smiled, amused, his eyes twinkling in the Sheriff's body as he tentatively took a step towards them.

"One more step and I will wedgie your werepire butt."

"You keep saying that young one, but when are you actually going to do it?" Klaus laughed.

"Don't tempt me."

Damon's eyes flashed, and he lifted his foot to storm towards him, his hands balled into fists.

"Damon..Damon, don't."

Elena whispered, taking their linked hands and pressing hers to his chest.

"You need to stop doing that." Damon snapped, through gritted teeth. It was using all of his energy not to take her into his arms right now.

Elena let her hair drape over her face, dropping his hand as if his touch burned her, she began to walk away towards the Lockwood mansion. Damon looked after her, instantly regretting what he'd said. Klaus saw his chance, lunging at the vampire when he wasn't looking, but Damon was quicker, and had him pinned against a tree in a second, his hands across his throat. A sly smile crept across his face. He was stronger than Klaus was in this form.

"Go near my girl again and I will not hesitate to rip your heart out." He snarled, a low warning growl slipping from his clenched teeth. "Oh..and send my brother our best."

"Barbie and Mutt are fine, now lets just go, Elena." Damon whined.

Elena ignored him, making her way down the cellar steps.

"You don't know that." Elena mumbled, reaching the bottom as Damon blurred in-front of her.

"Do you really want to jinx our _fantastical_ powers of 'good luck', Elena?"

"Ha ha, very funny Damon." Elena replied, reaching for the door handle, but Damon was there before her, blocking her way.

"That's me. Damon the optimist, charismatic Damon, charming Damon, hot Damon.."

"Don't flatter yourself." Elena cut in, trying to remain serious, but she couldn't control the small smile that broke across her face. She reached for the handle again, but he waggled his finger, tutting at her.

"Ah ah ah. Touch that and I will throw you over my shoulders and drag you home kicking and screaming." Damon said, utterly serious.

Elena sighed.

"Caroline! Care, are you in there?"

She shouted, ignoring Damon's eye-roll.

There was a thud from behind the door.

"Yeah..I'm a little busy right now."

The blonde vampire's voice was muffled, but Elena could still hear, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on brown eyes, let's get outta here." Damon said, dragging her away when there was a howling sound and a huge bang coming from the other side.

"Oh, by the way Blondie, you might wanna avoid your Mom,"

Damon quipped, but Caroline cut in before he could finish.

"What? Where is she?"

"Klaus is inside her, Caroline, it's not safe."

Elena finished for Damon.

"Can't Bonnie do a spell or something?"

Elena swallowed, remembering that Caroline and Tyler didn't know.

"Yeah, about that.." Damon trailed off, flashing Elena a look that said 'are you gonna tell her, or should I'.

"Caroline..I can't explain right now, it'd be better if you come round when you're done."

Elena choked off.

"Oh..okay. I have to go..Tyler needs me, see you later. By the way, Ric's here too, so everything's great, tell Damon not to worry. I thought Alaric was acting a bit weird, he said it was best if it came from you."

And then she was gone.


	22. Chapter 22 I Love You But

**A/N: Decided to do two chapters today..oh you guys are going to totally stake me with the ending of this chapter..-Leahlovessalvatore124**

Chapter Twenty Two – I Love You But..

Damon took Elena back to the boarding house, there was no way he was going to leave Elena at her house unprotected. Yeah, she was practically superwoman, but he wasn't going to risk it. As soon as they got inside, he poured himself a glass of whiskey, and one look at Elena's face said that she needed one too.

"Thanks." She whispered as he passed her a tumbler, watched her flop onto the sofa and debated whether or not to go and sit next to her. After a while of comfortable silence, Elena cleared her throat.

"Still wanna talk?"

Damon nearly choked on his whiskey. Now he was going to need a hell of a lot of alcohol. He downed the rest of his drink and poured himself another glass.

"Why'd you do it." He said. It was more of a statement than a question. They both knew what he was talking about. The kiss on his deathbed. He watched her hide her head, and for a while Damon didn't think she would answer.

"I thought you were going to..die..I wanted to say goodbye..I thought it was saying goodbye." She mumbled quietly, her voice rough. Damon frowned. What the heck did that mean?

"I don't mean to be insensitive, Elena, but could you bit a little less cryptic?"

Damon gave in, going to sit in his favourite armchair opposite her.

Elena rolled her eyes, letting out a short laugh as a few tears rolled from them.

"I'm not explaining it right am I?" She huffed, burying her face in her hands. "What I'm trying to say is..I was letting you go..but if I kiss you again it would mean something different." She bit her lip, looking down. What she was trying to say was that, yes, she had loved him then, but in a different way, mostly as a friend..okay, maybe even more than a friend, but it wasn't until now that her feelings had grown stronger, and what he didn't know was that she had kissed him again, and it had meant something different, it had even felt different, but she didn't know if she could tell him that.

Damon rolled his eyes. Deep down he'd known it all all along. It had just been a pity kiss.

Elena knew what he was thinking. He hadn't understood.

Damon turned to get up, to storm up to his room, but Elena grabbed his arm and he flinched.

"Damon.."

"I really don't wanna hear it, Elena." Damon growled, but he still couldn't move. He didn't trust himself not to snap at her, to hurt her.

"Damon, yes you do." She knew she needed to be careful with what she said. Elena slowly removed her hand from his arm, and Damon stayed frozen.

"What I'm trying to tell you..is that when I kissed you, I cared about you." She paused, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down.

"And now that I've nearly had you..die..in my arms more than once..things have changed. But I don't want to tell you something..about how I feel, and then I let you down again, because where would that leave us Damon?" She whispered, shaking and sobbing between words, gathering strength to continue. Even saying the word die when it applied to Damon made her shiver like hell. Elena took another deep breath, closing her eyes for a second before opening them again. Elena reached her hand up to his face, stroking it with her thumb, their faces only a fraction of an inch apart. Her eyes flicked up at him, and she placed her palms on either side of his face. Damon's eyes flashed with a passion that made her shiver. Slowly she leaned in so that their foreheads were touching, and kissed him so lightly like she was afraid he might break. Damon's hands found the back of her neck, her face her hair, but all too soon Elena broke off, trembling, their foreheads still touching she took his hands from her face and into her own.

"Damon..I love you..but I can't." She whispered, her eyes burned green, and she let his hands slip from hers as she walked away, out of the boarding house door, and into the night.


	23. Chapter 23 Three Times? Make It Four

**A/N: Thanks to all the people for reviews and support xx ! (: - Leahlovessalvatore124**

Chapter Twenty Three – Three Times – Make It Four

_Dear diary,_

_I'm a cheat. And most of all, I'm a liar. I told him I wouldn't hurt him, I made a promise that didn't even last a day without being broken. I love you Damon. There. And all along I've said that it was nothing. I'm a fake. A fraud. But how is it that I'm still in love with Stefan? How is it that you can be in love with two people at the same time? Cupid has a rotten aim. That's one thing Mom used to say that I never understood. But now it's more than crystal clear._

And that was when Elena knew that she couldn't walk away. She couldn't leave him in that state. She didn't think he would come to her. Not now. Not after what she'd done. He probably wouldn't talk to her, and God only knew what he'd already done because he was angry. She opened the door with her diary in her hand, only to have it slammed in her face again.

"Walking out after what you did? Bad move."

Damon said with a touch of darkness in his voice, ignoring her look of utter disbelief that he was here. She let him push her down onto the bed, taking her diary out of her hand and flicking through it.

"No..Damon don't.." Elena started, but he cut her off.

"Why? There's something you're hiding from me..something else you won't admit to. You owe me the truth Elena. I _need_ it." He said, fingering the book in his hands, letting his eyes slide over the last entry and feeling his heart practically leap out of his chest. Damon scrutinised her with his baby-blues, and Elena watched them widen and squint slightly before they went back to normal.

Elena let out a small sob as she dropped her head, but Damon stopped her, placing his hand softly on her chin and tilting it up so that she had to look at him, so that she couldn't avoid him anymore. Elena closed her eyes, letting tears leak out before she opened them again.

"I..can't." She mumbled, shaking under his touch.

"Elena," Damon started, but she cut him off.

"I..can't..tell you.." She took a long deep breath before continuing. "because I'm selfish." Elena finished, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

Damon frowned, remembering something similar coming from his lips the night he had confessed to Elena that he loved her, that he couldn't be selfish with her, and then had compelled her to forget.

Damon looked at her speechless. He slowly dropped his hand from her face, but to Elena, it still felt like it was there, the imprint of his touch burning against her skin.

"You're leaving me hanging Elena." Damon quipped, his impatience getting the better of him.

"I'm selfish..because if I tell you..you'll hate me.." Elena choked off. She let out a puff of air that she hadn't realised she'd been holding in. "And I don't know..if I could live with that." She finished in a small whisper. All she wanted was for him to take her into his arms, to comfort her like he always did, but how could he do that if he didn't know?

Elena made an attempt to calm her nerves, but it didn't work, they just got worse.

"I kissed you." She said all at once.

There was a brief moment of silence, then Damon let out a sarcastic snort.

"Yeah, figures Elena. What the heck do you think this is all about?" Damon said, completely missing the point.

Elena let out a half laugh.

"Three times." She whispered.

Okay, now Damon was confused. First she was delirious, and now she couldn't even count? Nothing was making sense.

"Uh..I'm _preeeetty_ sure it was two..unless, of course, you wanna take another whack at it." Damon answered, drawing the word out and flashing a smile. It wasn't like he would have just forgotten a kiss..would he?

Elena gave him a look. He really wasn't making this any easier for her was he?

Damon raised his hands before miming zipping his lips and throwing away the key. Instead of distracting her again, he simply took her hand in his and squeezed it once before letting go.

"When Bonnie.." She swallowed around the lump in her throat. "When Bonnie d..died and you were unconscious.." Elena stuttered, and her voice trailed off when she saw Damon's look of surprise. "I kissed you..and.." And what? "and..you can tell me how much you hate me now. Go ahead. After everything I've done to hurt you, you must have at least something to say..I know I deserve it." Elena sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"As a matter of fact I do."

Elena bent her head, readying herself for the blow, but it never came. Instead he pulled her into his arms holding her tight, resting his ringed hand on her hair.

"Why would you think that I would hate you, Elena? Even for a second?"

"Because I did the one thing you wanted all along and you weren't there, Damon." He'd been unconscious. She didn't think he'd felt a thing, hadn't realised what was happening, and by the time he'd come around the moment had passed, and she'd already been feeding him her blood.

Damon gently took her face in his hands, and suddenly, he saw that all her walls were gone.

"Oh, I was." He said the last thing she had expected, his voice rough with emotions. "I didn't know if I was imagining, but I felt it. Or a part of me must have noticed, even if I couldn't wake up and kiss you back..no matter how much I would've wanted to.." Damon's voice trailed off, and his eyes landed on her lips for a couple of seconds.

Elena's breath caught for a second as she felt her heart flutter and the vampire closed some of the distance between them. Elena reached her hands up to his face, one of them twining its way in his night black hair.

"Damon, I would've let you." She whispered breathlessly, truth ringing in her words, their lips mere inches apart and just brushing as she spoke. "Damon, do you still want to.." She managed to finish, and his lips crushed hers passionately, urgently, everywhere his hands touched it set her body alight. Elena felt her eyes flash, and so much love ran through her that she thought she might burst. The tips of her fingers tingled, and a warm feeling spread through her, making her shiver right to her core. This was where she was supposed to be. This was where she felt together again, and that jigsaw piece that she'd been searching for all along, filled the hole in her heart that Stefan had left. Damon made her feel complete. Feel loved.

Later when he tried to leave, tried to slip out into the night she managed to stop him, grabbing his hand. Damon gratefully excepted it, and laced their hands together, wishing he never had to let her go as she uttered the one word he had been hoping for.

"Stay." Elena was half asleep, but more alert then ever. Whenever he wasn't around she felt like a piece of her was missing.

Damon's answering smile lit up the dark.

Elena laughed tiredly.

"Don't you be getting ideas."

"No worries. I already have _plenty_." Damon replied, smiling a seductive smile that made Elena's heart jump. Damon went to lay down on the bed next to her, but Elena gave him a disapproving look.

"Uh uh, you're not wearing those shoes in my bed." She told him. Damon rolled his eyes and sighed, pulling off his black boots that he hardly ever removed.

"Anything else you want me to take off while I'm at it?" Damon questioned, getting into the bed next to her.

Elena thought for a moment.

"Er..no I'm good for now." Elena answered, laughing quietly.

Damon chuckled.

"You're good.._for now_? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means don't push your luck Mr Cocky-Pants." She whispered, rolling over to him and laying her head on his chest.

"Did I just get a threat from someone who is one hundred and forty eight years younger than me?"

"Yeah..and you better believe it..or else." Elena said, and giggled at the fake alarm in his voice.

Damon paused for a second.

"Or else what?" Seduction dripped from his voice, and he laughed as it made Elena shiver.

Damon began to relax..well, relax as much as he could with Elena in bed next to him and in his arms after just kissing her as he started stroking her hair and tracing circles on her back. After a brief silence Elena answered him.

"Or else I will be hogging your half of the duvet tonight." She replied, her eyes narrowing in the dark as she tried to remain serious.

Damon laughed, and soon enough they had both fallen asleep, with Elena curled up against Damon's chest with his chin resting on her head and his arms wrapped happily around her and there was one thing in Damon's mind.

_Three times..yeah right. Make it four._


	24. Chapter 24 You're Just Like Her

Chapter Twenty Four – You're Just Like Her

In her dream Elena found herself standing in a room full of mirrors, tons of them, all different shapes and sizes. The one in-front of her was the tallest one she'd ever seen, and it was edged with red swirling wood. Her reflection was just her in her pyjamas, but there was some shadow in the background behind her mirror image that she couldn't bring herself to look at.

She felt a sudden breeze whoosh behind her, but when she turned to face it, no one was there.

Evil laughter rang around her, making her shiver because it sounded so familiar.

Elena felt tears come to her eyes.

"Stefan?" She choked out, hardly bearing to say the name because it caused her so much pain. He was standing next to her reflection, but as she looked beside her, Elena realised that he wasn't standing next to the real her. How was that even possible? How could his reflection be in a mirror and at the same time he wasn't next to her? It was impossible.

A cruel and unpleasant smile broke across his face, and instead of the eyes that had once been warm and inviting, they were now a cold, hard, unwelcoming black. There was none of the familiar light in his eyes, and he looked like he was missing a soul.

"Miss me?" He said, darkness dripping from his words and everything about him like a disease.

Elena was almost stunned speechless. Almost. She would cherish these few precious moments with him even if it was just a figment of her imagination. She knew she would be hurting tomorrow, that the pain would start to show again, that the holes would come back. But she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Of course I missed you. I love you Stefan." She answered, trying to inject some kind of emotion into the words, but it felt mechanical, like she was just saying it because someone had programmed her to, and she knew that he instantly picked up on that, because something flashed in his eyes like an angry flame.

"So you remember my name, do you?" It was practically a low growl, laced with so much menace that she felt herself flinch as he stalked towards her, a couple of centimetres of cool metallic glass separating them from each other. Elena felt fear and confusion.

"I..I don't understand,"

"Oh I'm sure you understand _perfectly_."

He cut in, halting her explanation. Stefan carefully took something out of the pocket of his grey leather jacket, angrily holding it up to her. Her diary.

Elena's eyes widened. She felt her heart pound. If this was all she could ever see of him, if this wasn't real, she didn't want him to be angry with her. Because there were things in there that he couldn't see. Things about Damon.

She tried to calm herself down and started pretending.

"I don't know what you mean." Elena said, trying to make her voice sound even, when deep inside she was shaking. She could see Stefan gritting his teeth, his hands clenching themselves into raging fists over and over, and looking at the glass like he wanted to break through and rip her apart as he practically tore the book open and began reading from it. Out loud.

"I don't know what to do. How I feel about him, I know it's wrong. I know it is, but how can I stop it when deep down it feels so right?" Stefan growled, his face tight and the snarl in his voice feral, snatching its way out of his throat, anger pouring out of him like a violent volcano, shaking as he spoke, nails digging into the green book. Elena clasped her hands over her ears, screamed at him to stop, but he wouldn't. Instead he shouted louder. Angrier.

"I want to be with Damon. But I can't. I want to touch him. But I can't."

Elena felt tears fall from her eyes, down her cheeks.

"Because he's not mine. Because of Stefan."

He finished, shouting so loud that it made Elena fall to her knees. But somehow the mirror image Elena remained standing while the real one was crying. And she was smiling as Stefan's arms wrapped around her. The book in his hands wilting and disappearing like a dead flower as he kissed her neck.

"But I'll make you forget. Don't you worry." He said, fangs glinting in the darkness like a promise. And then he disappeared too.

Elena felt herself crumple to the floor, but something made her get up, drag her feet across the floor and follow the strong pull to the next mirror.

This one had straight black edges, and _he_ was already waiting for her in his black leather jacket, sharp black hair and his back turned to her.

"You have to choose. I can't do this anymore Elena."

Damon whispered.

Elena knew what he was talking about. He couldn't be strung along. She couldn't kiss him unless they were together, unless something happened, unless it meant something, unless it was real.

"I know." She mumbled back. In almost an instant he had blurred to face her. His eyes were even more blue than any other time she'd ever seen them, and there was a deep emotion in his eyes, something like sadness or desperation, something that she couldn't place.

"No, no you don't." He snapped, standing with his arms crossed next to Elena's mirror image who was strangely smiling when the real Elena wasn't. But it was a twisted smile. An evil smile.

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"You're just like her." Damon continued, looking at her mirror image with something like pity and annoyance.

Elena felt her mouth flop open in realisation. And the next sentence they both said in synchronisation.

"Just like Katherine."

For a moment their eyes really met, and then he disappeared like grains of sand in the wind.

The only person left behind was her mirror image.

Elena frowned, and the reflection smiled at her instead like she was something to eat, veins twisting round her eyes with a hand on her hips, fangs pushing themselves horribly out of her closed lips, and straight pieces of hair ringing themselves into long curling snakes that framed her evil face. And the image spoke without Elena even moving her lips, saying the words that Katherine had once said to her.

"You can love them both. I did."

And then the mirrors shattered.

Elena woke up with a start, screaming in Damon's arms.

"Shh, Shh it's okay. I'm here." Damon soothed, kissing her head and smoothing her hair back with his hands, waking up within a second.

She stopped crying, but she wouldn't stop mumbling.

"Choose..I have to choose." She whispered.

Damon held her even closer, taking her face in his hands.

"Elena..talk to me. Calm down."

"I have.. to choose."

She whispered, burying her face in Damon's chest. And then he understood. Damon suppressed an eye-roll. He knew who she would choose. It would be back to Bambi-munching Stefan, and he would be back to the bottom of the pile all over again. Love really sucked. And even though she hadn't even made a decision yet he felt himself starting to get cranky. It would always be Stefan. She'd told him that, that night when he'd drunkenly forced himself on her. But things had changed since then. She'd kissed him four times. Four! What if this time she made the right choice? What if this time she chose him?

Damon thought for less than a moment before shoving that thought to the back of his mind.

_Yeah right. Dream on Damon._

He thought. And with a short sigh he did the only thing he could do in a situation like this. He felt his walls building themselves a little way up.

Damon's mind drama was suddenly distracted by a vibrating on the bed. His first thought was Elena. He threw her a sideways cocky glance and a smile, then when she rolled her eyes he fished into his pocket for his iphone4, blinking at the caller ID. Ric was calling him at 8.30 in the morning? Jeez, did this dude ever have a lie in?

"Hey Shaggy."

"Damon. Are you with Elena..by any chance?"

"Behold..the teacher." Damon quipped.

"Just answer the question." He said. Damon could practically hear the tiredness in his voice.

"Yeah, hell I am." Damon quipped, throwing his girl a quick wink, and dodging a pillow that came flying in his direction.

"Well, you need to leave so she can't hear,"

"Can't hear what? What's wrong? What's going on?" Elena pipped up, popping up straight and plopping herself down next to Damon who was now on the edge of the bed.

"I have to go take this." Damon said, leaping up to the door with Elena running after him still half asleep and slamming the door behind him, holding onto the doorknob from the other side.

"Talk."

"I found a lead." Alaric puffed out.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you found a lead?"

"I mean, I found a lead on your brother Damon, you know, Stefan the ripper. When we were secretly searching for him from Elena, I found a cell number. I thought it was just nothing, so you know me, I just shoved it in my pocke.."

"Cut to the point Ricky. I have a mad girl force-ably held in her bedroom who possesses super-power witch-business who may be about to kick my ass."

"Okay, okay. So I hooked up one of my friends who works in phone hacking, turns out it's old, but he traced the caller to a new cell and their last address." There was the sound of fingers tapping on computer keys and a distant beeping.

"It's a boarded up warehouse a couple miles out from Mystic Falls. It's called Abery Ranch it shut down about three years ago. It's been unused ever since."

"Are you sure this is a lead? I thought Steffi was still in town with his good old buddy Santa?"

Damon questioned, leaning his body weight against the door to stop it from opening.

"I heard the name Stefan! Tell me what's going on Damon!"

Squeaked a voice from behind the door.

"No way! You are not getting involved, I'm keeping your suicidal ass out of trouble."

"You can't stop me Damon!" There was a light thud against the door which was followed by the sound of her falling to the floor and a small grunt and then further door hitting.

"Stop that. You're gonna break a bone or something!" He shouted.

"Good! I hope I do!" Elena huffed back. That was the only way he would open the door, feed her his blood to make it heal and then maybe she would be able to get it out of him..

"Don't even think about it brown eyes." Damon warned, knowing what she was plotting.

"Then tell me Damon! I deserve to know. Please?"

She whispered from behind the door.

Damon felt his heart twinge but made himself ignore it. It was for her own good.

"Who knows. I'll send you the address so you can check it out." Alaric said quietly, bringing Damon back to their conversation.

"Not necessary. I already know where it is. Nearly exactly where that dip-shit Logan ambushed me. What a dick." He mumbled, Binging the name of the warehouse on his phone and pulling up a map. "First I have to deal with Elena." Damon said.

Alaric laughed.

"Good luck." Before cutting him off.

Damon snorted. Yeah, like he would need it..

"Have you calmed down or are you still little Miss Stroppy Pants?" He said teasingly from the other side of the door. When he didn't get a reply he sighed. So stubborn!

And then he thought for a moment and listened.

It was quiet..too quiet..

He leapt up, burst the door open with a flick of his wrist and blurred into the room, only to see her pyjamas on the floor, her wardrobe in a mess, the window wide open and the curtain fluttering in the breeze.

Damon smashed his fist against the wall.

He was meant to be looking after her, so where the hell was she?

Elena couldn't see a thing. Someone had knocked her out before she'd had the chance, and now she didn't know where she was.

The only thing she did know was that someone was carrying her, more like dragging her across the floor, and the only thing she could hear was the blood roaring in her ears, and someone's footsteps on the hard ground.

And then she was on the ground too, thrown roughly onto the cool concrete with the black sack still on her head and her hands still tied together. Elena tried flexing her wrists, and then bit back a gasp of pain as something hard sliced into her skin that felt like wire. Then there was the sound of a door slamming.

"I don't understand why they want you so much." I voice drawled slowly, sounding only mere centimetres from her face. She couldn't see who it was. The black cloth stopped her, blocked her eyesight. It didn't sound like a question, but Elena plucked up the courage to answer anyway.

"Who?" She whispered, and in less than an instant her head was slammed up fiercely against the floor, pain stabbing every part of her mind like knives.

"Silly girl. Stefan and Damon of course." The mystery person whispered darkly, their mouth so close to her ear that their lips nearly brushed it when they spoke.

Elena already felt her mind spinning from the hands that still clamped down on her. Elena guessed this person was obviously a vampire, and she sounded female.

"Y..you know..Stefan..?" She choked out, not knowing if she should risk it.

The female vampire laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound, it was bitter, cruel and twisted, and it made Elena flinch.

"Oh? Didn't he mention me? We have history you wouldn't even _dream_ of." She giggled again, then kicked her with one sharp movement against the far wall. Elena felt her whole body crash against it, and she heard the sudden crack of her back splitting, of something breaking. And then she couldn't move. The pain was unbearable, crashing down on her like an ocean. She tried to scream but it hurt too much to breathe, let alone make a noise. She felt wet. Wet with her own blood, wet with tears.

"Now you just serve your purpose." She said, yanking the black sack from her face. Elena looked at her questioningly. What purpose?

The vampire leaned closer, smiling when she saw Elena tremble, trying to turn away.

"To lay there and _bleed_." She said slowly, pronouncing every word, then grabbing Elena's hands, and squeezing so hard that the barbed wire cuffs disappeared into her skin. The last thing Elena saw was a pretty evil face grinning down at her framed by blonde curls. And then the darkness swallowed her.

**A/N: Wonder who this is..**


	25. Chapter 25 What Game Are You Playing

**A/N: Yay! It's my b-day todayyy! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthdayyy! Thankyou everyone for all of your reviews and I promise I will try and update as soon as I can, also that there will be plenty of Delena on the way! Just seen the TVD preview for the first time on channel itv2 and season three is set to air on October 11th in the UK. I have written what I would love Bex to be like, so if I got her wrong, sorry! Love you guys soo much you are so supportive xx (: - Leahlovessalvatore124 – P.S Reviews would be the best B-Day present ever and would totally make my day – thanks again!**

Chapter Twenty Five – What Game Are You Playing

"Lockwoof I need you."

Damon was standing on the porch watching Tyler's mouth flop open and Barbie looking equally shocked.

Caroline opened her mouth to make a funny remark, but then Damon gave her a look and she shut it. She could tell he was trying to be serious.

Caroline nodded once, dragged a stunned Tyler into the car and waited for Damon to slide it into gear. They were on the road in seconds. He'd already called Alaric. She hadn't gone to his like he'd predicted. So maybe this was something else..maybe something had happened when she'd been on her way..

Just as Damon was thinking this, Caroline gave him a sharp tug on the shoulder.

"Hey, Damon, what make is Elena's bag?"

Damon rolled his eyes gripping the wheel and trying to remain calm.

"Blondie, as soon as we get Elena back I swear I will gladly talk girly fashion tips with you while we paint our nails, but right now can you please just focus? For one second?"

Caroline huffed, giving him a death glare as she leant back into the seat. It was only a couple of minutes later when she cleared her throat.

Damon sighed.

"What now?"

"Fine, fine, it's not like you would believe me if I just said I saw Elena's bag on the last turn, silly little Caroline, she doesn't know ANYTHING." Caroline snapped.

Damon kicked in the breaks faster than she could finish.

"Well why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"I..You said..oh, forget it." She grumbled, pointing to it as Damon reversed and drove back up the long winding road where it was laying abandoned on the pavement, its contents sprawled out everywhere.

Caroline and Damon blurred towards it with Tyler close behind them, fishing through the pile of things. Yep. It was definitely Elena's.

"Hey, where's her phone?" Tyler said, frowning. Damon frowned too. He was right. Who ever had _taken _her – he felt his hands ball into fists at the thought – had obviously needed it. But he ignored the thought. She was smart, she'd probably slipped it into her pocket when no one was looking. He hoped.

"Where now?" Caroline cut in, breaking the silence.

"Hell, I don't know Caroline. You got any bright ideas?"

The blonde vampire rolled her eyes.

"You mean you haven't thought about actually calling the phone?"

Damon snorted, pulling out his phone, pausing when he saw the picture of Elena smiling and looking down, her hair around her face, laughing as she tried to hide from the camera, his phone wallpaper, before hesitantly dialling her number that he knew by heart. Someone picked up on the first ring.

There was random bashes of noise in the background, but no one answered. Damon answered first, impatience and anger ringing in his voice, knowing in every corner of his mind that it would be Elena who would answer.

"I swear to God if you even so much as _touch_ her I will hunt you down and I will _kill_ you." He growled. A childish giggle erupted from the other end of the line, and he recognised it instantly, and nearly dropped the phone. He swallowed. If this person had Elena..it might already be too late.

"What game are you playing Becky?" Damon snarled, keeping the surprise out of his voice.

The answer was practically a purr.

"Game? Who said I was playing anything?" She chuckled, then sighed. "Okay, I'll give you a clue. I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, and if you don't go along with my fun I will grab her by the throat, and when I hear the bells, I will _eat_ her."

Damon thought for a moment. What the heck did she mean by 'the bells'?

"Or how about you give me back my girl, and then I will kill you quickly, instead of slowly and painfully." He replied threateningly. There was no sound from the other end of the line.

"You don't want to get on my bad side Damon Salvatore. Because do you know what happens to those people who do?" She questioned, her voice low and menacing.

"Oh, please, do tell." Damon quipped, gritting his teeth.

"They die." She snarled, before cutting him off.

Damon cursed out loud.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked and Damon stalked angrily back to the car.

"First I'm going to find Bex, and then I swear I am going to rip the bitch apart."

He said, as everyone but him clicked in their seatbelts and the car jolted forward, launching onto the highway.

"I think the part about the bells was a kinda hint." Tyler wondered out loud, after Caroline had quietly explained to him everything she'd heard with her vamp-hearing.

"Wait, how many places are there in and around Mystic Falls with bells?" Caroline said to no one in particular.

Tyler snorted.

"About three, not many. Just some old Churches and stuff. My Dad dragged me and my Mom to them for some crappy Mayor get togethers."

Caroline squinted her eyes.

"Hey, has anyone got the time?"

She asked, and Tyler showed her his watch.

"Thanks Hon." She said. "It's, what, three past two, and don't Churches ring, like, every hour or something?"

Damon nodded.

"I think you might be on to something."

Caroline grinned.

"I'm not girly little Caroline anymore."

"I think the nearest one is about a couple miles or so from here." Tyler said, tilting his head at the road sign on the left side of the road that had a picture of a cross and read 'Abery Road Church'. Damon narrowed his eyes for a second.

"Hang on a minute. I think I know where they are."

He said with a grin, then drove as fast as he could towards Abery Ranch warehouse.


	26. Chapter 26 Blood And Bex

**A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews and alerts they really made me smile! You guys are so awesome! I'm totally looking forward to season three of the Vampire Diaries when it starts in the UK tomorrow. A long chapter for you! - Leahlovessalvatore124**

Chapter Twenty Six – Blood And Bex

"Right you remember the plan Scooby?"

Tyler nodded at Damon.

"You should call me Wolverine. Wolverine's awesome."

Damon squinted his eyes for a moment, scrunching up his face for a second.

"Mm..I'll think about it. Who knows, if you do well, I will give you a Scooby snack."

Tyler looked confused.

"Seriously?"

"No! Now stop stalling and get your furry ass out the car now!"

Tyler huffed before boosting himself slowly out of the vampire's car, slamming the door behind him. He knew he had to go anyways, he wouldn't let Caroline go in on her own, and he linked their hands together before they quietly followed Damon.

The old warehouse was huge, its shadow like a blanket of darkness over everything in front of it. Just before they took another couple of steps, Damon felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

"It's Ricky. He just sent me the number." He said. He'd explained everything about the number Alaric had found and traced to the warehouse, and about how he thought that it was connected to Bex because it was only a road or so away from a small Church with bells under the same name.

Damon typed the numbers quickly, smiling at the familiar voice that answered.

"Stefan? I've been waiting for you to return my calls!"

"Wrong brother Becky-Boo."

Damon smirked into the phone as he reached the back door to the warehouse. He didn't need to try to push it open to know it would be locked. He gestured for Caroline to help him. She nodded, skipping towards it and with a sharp kick, the door fell through as Damon cut off the phone call.

As they stepped slowly inside, Tyler felt Caroline squeeze his hand and move a little closer to him.

It was dark and everything was draped in dust and cobwebs. There were random boxes and bits of wood scattered around. Tyler felt Caroline cringe in his arms and watched Damon stop suddenly.

"What, what is it Care?" He whispered. She was turned half towards him, but even then he could still see the veins that swirled around her eyes and the hand clutched over her mouth and nose.

"Blood..so much blood."

She whispered, a worried and horrified look crossing her face.

Damon saw something glint from the corner of his eye on one of the dirty walls, the light from the door way making it shine. He reached out, touching it, and something wet stuck to his fingertips. Damon lifted his fingers to his nose, inhaling deeply.

And then he voiced his worst fear, his stomach turning sickeningly.

"Elena." He choked out, his heart squeezing in his chest, anger, love, worry, all blurring into one loud and frustratedly angry emotion that raged through his entire being.

"Mm..clever boy." A voice sounded snidely in front of him. Damon felt his hands balling themselves into fists, heard his teeth practically grind. Bex. He wanted to rip her apart. He wanted to make her hurt more than she'd hurt Elena, which he guessed was probably a lot. He wanted to kill her.

"She's stronger than you think." He growled, the only thing he could think of was how he knew she'd attacked Elena.

Bex raised one blonde brow as she strutted towards him, her high black boots clicking across the floor as she walked.

"But not strong enough." She said smiling happily.

"She'll be able to take you down easy as pie, Becksy darling." He spat.

"You better hope so. 'Cause in her state, it's _extremely_ unlikely that she'll ever even walk again, let alone take down a vampire, Damon." She said teasingly. Damon restrained the almost unbearable urge to tear her head off her shoulders and toss it across the room like a Barbie doll. Although, as soon as he even lifted a finger, he was grabbing at thin air as she dodged out of the way. Damon had already known Elena would be weak after the episode with the exploding green power light in the woods.

"Why are you even here Bitch..oops, I mean Bex?"

Rebecca rolled her eyes at Damon's comment, putting a hand on her hip.

"You know me Damon. I came for a little visit."

Damon rolled his eyes back at her.

"Be serious, for once in your annoyingly long life."

Bex huffed.

"I came to find Stefan. And then I tracked him to Klaus. There were some rumours about a certain doppelgänger just floating around, and I decided to do some digging. Then I found that wench Elena..and I guess I got jealous." She pouted, laughing to herself. Damon narrowed his eyes. There was something about her that said she wasn't telling him something.

He sighed.

"Come on Becky, fess up."

Rebecca looked at him, something flashing in her eyes, and he smiled. She hated being called that. Hated it.

"Klaus found me..and now I'm on the run. And I figured if I.."

"You figured if you took Elena and took her to Klaus that you'd be off the hook and free to prance off happily into your own bloody little sunset. Dream on lady. A) if you did, you would not just have Klaus on your back, and b) Santa would still kill you and add you to his creepy museum of dead family members."

He grinned, satisfied as he watched her eyes widen, and for a long moment she looked scared.

"How do you know?" She whispered.

Damon shrugged.

"What, that you belong to a family of originals, and that your brother is the big bad ass puppy-mutt Klaus?"

She nodded slowly.

"I only told Stefan.." She paused for a second. "So then he told you. Typical Stefan, still trusts the brother who tried to screw him over for more that a century." Bex nodded again, and then she was back to her cool bitchy self, annoyance and anger ringing in her voice. "I'm not giving her back."

Damon nodded too, taking a slow step towards her that didn't go un-noticed.

"Oh I know. Because I won't ask again. Me and my pals will drag your cold dead corpse into a ditch on a random roadside if we have to. One way or another I will get her back, and Karma will bite your ugly butt."

Bex looked him up and down, highly doubting that he would even be able to touch her, let alone kill her. She was too distracted to notice Caroline coming up behind her. But Bex was fast, and Caroline was on the floor in a second. Tyler started forward, but Damon grabbed his arm before he could strike the evil blonde vamp with it.

"She's not even worth it." He said, waiting for Tyler to stop shaking before he let go. Bex danced out of the way.

"Did you know she talks a _lot_ when she's unconscious. I had to hit her more than a few times to make her stop saying _your_ name. Why don't you just give up on her Damon? Push that button and switch off again, then you don't have to feel when she goes running back to Stefan. We both know that will happen. You could walk out right now and have her out of your life. You know why? Because they're both the same. She is just another Katherine." Bex said, running a manicured hand down Damon's jacket, right before he grabbed her hand so hard that she flinched.

"You don't know anything about her. _Anything_." He growled, pushing her off of him so that she staggered backwards slightly.

"Ooh, feisty. Non wonder she likes you. You're so _hot_ when you're angry." Bex grinned seductively, her grin teasing as she circled around him, catlike. "Did she tell you that her diary went missing for a while? Just after Stefan went missing? I've done my research Damon. I don't come to a town near mystic falls without knowing exactly what my strengths are, exactly who my enemies are, exactly who I can manipulate and exactly who I can kill in the process. I'm old Damon. Old enough to know so much more about playing the game than you do."

She said, eyes flicking at him.

"I have moves you've never even seen before." Damon said, glad that both of his friends had recognised their secret signal phrase that they had all agreed on, and that nobody else knew. In less than a moment, Caroline leapt up from her pile on the floor, grabbing the other blonde vamp in a headlock, while Tyler had both of her arms in an iron grip.

"Go..she won't stay down long."

Tyler wheezed as the vamps teeth snapped at him, inches from his neck.

Damon nodded, and Tyler gave him a knowing look as he blurred off, following the blood trail.

He didn't waste any time, and no matter how much of an idiot he knew he would look like, he called her name, desperately hoping that she would reply. Damon followed a few spots of blood and a bloody smudged hand print to another dark room up three small stone steps. He busted the door down with ease, and to his annoyance it was another room full of rows of boxes. Just as he was starting to get even angrier, with his vamp vision he saw the corner of a finger poking out from behind a light coloured wood box way over in the corner.

He blurred towards it, hoping it was Elena, shouting her name, so loud he wished she would jump out and hear him, just run into his arms and then when she was with him, everything would be alright again.

But when he saw the body his heart sunk. It wasn't Elena. It didn't even look like her. Their hair grey and their eyes were green. He let his fist slam through a box. Bex had been playing him. Dangling strands of hope in front of him only to have them snatched away again.

Still, he stuffed the body into a large trunk, because he knew it was what Elena would do if she were there..if she would ever be there again..

**Don't think about it.**

He told himself. He would find her, he would bring her back, she would be okay, just like all the times they'd got into trouble before, he'd saved her. He told himself that this would be one of those times, that she wasn't lost forever.

Then just as he felt a single tear slide down from his face, something twitched in the box he'd just punched.

"Damon?" A voice cried. He almost fainted. It was her! It was really her!

"Elena! Oh God Elena!"

There was a rattling inside it, and he went to rip the lid off with his shaking hands, but it was already flying through the air and across the room before he had a chance.

"So 'sorry' to get your hopes up Damon. Got anything to eat, I'm starving." Katherine grinned. She was standing in front of him, hair curled, wearing a tight black top and a leather jacket with black leggings and her usual six inch studded black boots, a scheming smile plastered all over her face.

Damon wanted to punch her. She always turned up where she wasn't wanted. Especially now when he'd been so close to getting her back, as soon as he'd seen her, all hopes had vanished, just like Elena.

"Ever heard of the words go stake yourself?" Damon snapped. God she was so annoying.

"Ever heard of the words nice to see you?" She replied, flipping back her hair. **Vain. Vain self-obsessed bitch.** Damon thought. It was hard and painful to believe that he'd actually lost his virginity to..well.._that_.

"Fine, fine. I won't tell you what I know. No worries. I'll just happily watch you stumble around and lose Elena forever." Katherine smirked, taking a nail file out of her pocket and perching on the edge of a box, starting to do her nails.

Damon narrowed his eyes. Yes, it was typical of Katherine of all people to know something, but why would she want to tell him anyway. She wanted to see Elena dead and buried so that she could profess her undying love for Stefan. He just about managed to contain a snort as he thought about that. Yeah, like he could believe that. Fun and games, that was all Katherine was. Unless there was something in it for her..

"What do you want, Katherine." Damon said tiredly.

"Nothing. As it happens I don't want anything." She said, filing her little fingernail.

"Hallelujah!" Damon cried sarcastically.

"I don't want anything _yet_."

Damon let out an exhausted eye-roll. He was so sick of this.

Katherine noticed his impatience and sighed.

"Me and Elena have a deal. As long as she is alive, I still get what I want, and you still get what you want, can't we work together Damon?" Katherine batted her lashes at him. Damon laughed.

"What deal was that again?" Damon inquired, trying to act cool.

This time Katherine was laughing.

"I never told you a first time. Hey, why don't you ask Elena when we get her back." She said, scooting off the box. Suddenly she paused by the door. Damon was beside her in a second.

"Bex. She's coming. She got free, we have to go." Katherine said, dragging Damon and running with her vamp speed to his car outside.

Katherine waited by the door for some reason Damon didn't understand.

"What are you waiting for? Christmas or Becky Santa's newest reindeer?"

Katherine didn't move, but smiled at him cheekily. Damon really wanted to knock her bobble head right off her shoulders. He pulled open the door, bowing slightly.

"There you go Miss Katherine." He trilled, his voice going high, and he gritted his teeth at the same time as she slid her palm into hers and he helped her into the car.

"Why thank you Mr Salvatore." She said, laughing to herself. And then she screamed, because Damon was in front of her with a stake, but that wasn't what she was screaming at. It was the face of another vampire that leered behind him, blood stained and blonde, Bex with her fangs on full display, and then Damon was on a pile, unconscious on the floor.

Katherine leaned her back against the car.

"That's all for now, Katherine." Said Bex, licking Damon's blood off of her lips.

Katherine sighed.

"I'm done?"

The blonde vampire smiled.

"Yes, you're done."

Katherine smiled back.

The vampire looked her full in the eyes, prising the stake out of Damon's hand and putting it into Katherine's, not breaking her gaze, pupils dilating and eyes flashing.

"You know what to do with it."

She whispered, compelling her.

And then Bex skulked away, back to the warehouse, her black heels clicking against the concrete. For a moment she paused. A shriek pierced the air, and the sound of a body falling to the ground. Bex smiled and carried on walking. One thought in her mind. **By the time I'm done, I'll be the only one left standing.**

**A/N: So many plot twists! I will try to write as much as I can and update as soon as possible! So, who, if anyone is dead? What happened to Caroline and Tyler? Thanks again. - ****Leahlovessalvatore124**


	27. Chapter 27 Taking Risks

Chapter Twenty Seven – Taking Risks

It wasn't long before Klaus returned to his normal body, and Stefan was already waiting when he did.

"Up for a spot of travelling?" He said, downing a blood glass and winking at the witch that had just brought him back before she left the room.

Stefan narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the sound of that. That meant that something was wrong..

"Who did you kill?"

Klaus cocked his head to the side.

"Since when did you care?"

"This was my home. If you kill, you kill on my land, and you kill my people. I'll ask you again. Who. Did. You. Kill?"

Klaus' eyes flashed for a moment, and then his mask was back on.

"You're getting a little too cocky for my liking. I killed..who did I kill again? The little witchy girl..what was her name.." Klaus said, resting a finger on his chin, pretending to think.

Stefan's eyes widened.

"Bonnie..you killed her? Why?"

A picture randomly flared in Stefan's mind of a blood stained room, a closet, and an olive-skinned girl with a heart shaped face and a cut by her hairline. And then it was gone. He tried to think about it again, but he gave in after a while because it hurt too much to try..

Klaus laughed.

"She's not dead. Actually, she's very much alive." Klaus told him, smirking and drinking another glass.

Stefan looked at him puzzled. After a long time with no answer, Stefan sighed. It was all it ever was with him. If he didn't want to say something, he wouldn't say it, no matter how many threats he would make, or how many people he would rip apart just to please him.

"I have some plans outside of town. We won't be coming back, not for a while anyway."

Stefan blurred after the werepire as he made his way to the door.

"Oh, that's her now."

He said, grinning, and answering the phone in his pocket in one smooth movement.

"Hey sis, what can I do for you?"

Caroline was the first to wake up. Instantly she screamed, pain ripped through her with every breath. Her hands and feet were tied with Vervain cuffs, and her head was so battered it felt like she was coming down from a major hangover and someone had just hit her with a hammer and knocked her out. She didn't bother to turn her head to check, she could already feel about five Vervain needles in each arm, three in her neck and chest, and every time she moved, more of the deadly liquid flooded through her. Cautiously, she angled her legs up slowly, positioning one of the needles between her knees, getting ready to jolt them out with her legs, but each time she tried to pull them out, the more they buried deeper into her skin, and the more drowsy and heavy she felt, and eventually she gave up, flopping back onto a box, and bracing herself for the pain that followed. Just as she felt her eyes beginning to close, she caught a glimpse of Tyler on her left.

She took a deep breath, and her throat was so dry she felt it creak.

"Ty..Tyler..come on..baby..wake up." She rasped, her voice clogged and croaky. He was held down just the same, but with wolfsbane instead. She tried to reach for his hand, but the more she inched it towards him, the more the needles thrust themselves into her, and it burned like hell, fire flooding through her veins like venom. Just as their little fingers brushed, the needle pushed so hard she felt it break out of the other side of her arm, now all of the way through like a gory Halloween trick gone wrong. The pain was overwhelming now.

"Ty.."

From behind her she heard a gun shot.

And then her eyes shut.

"I can't believe they actually bought it. The whole, 'running from Klaus' story." Bex said as her and her brother laughed together. It had been an easy story to make up. Despite how close they must have seemed, she knew why she was able to tell the lie so well, the lie that she was on the run from her brother, when actually she wasn't. She was one of the last ones standing, and she was the closest to her brother, but she knew she would have to run one day. She knew Klaus would get angry, or see her as a threat and soon get rid of her just like he had done with all of the others before her.

"Have you got her?" Klaus asked, the room suddenly so silent that you could hear a pin drop. This was what Bex feared. That it was all just a game he was playing with her, and a dangerous one, that he was just using her.

"Of course." Bex said, leading him to a door around the back and up three steps, right next to the one where Damon and his little gang were being kept. It opened easily, and there was nothing in there but cobwebs and a body that was completely still other than a hand holding something that always moved. As soon as he saw it, Klaus blurred towards it, smiling.

"You've kept her in good shape." He laughed sarcastically, stroking the cheek of the curly brown-haired vampire. "You have no idea of the plans I have for you my love." He smiled again.

"She's barely alive. I thought I'd let you finish her off." Rebecca said, leaning against a dusty wall and indicating to Katherine's hand that held a stake that she kept stabbing into herself centimetres from her heart even though she was unconscious, like a corpse with live blood inside of it.

"You know I'll finish her off." Klaus answered, picking the body up and slinging it over his shoulders. Bex thought he would just leave then, and she didn't expect a thank you, or a goodbye, but he didn't. Klaus turned back for a second.

"Why would you do something for me?" He questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowed. Bex thought about saying, 'because we're family', but she knew that wouldn't suffice. Family meant nothing to him. He was cold, cruel, and heartless. To him, family couldn't be trusted. And it was best not to remind him that.

Bex swallowed silently.

"I want her dead."

And it was true. One thing Bex hadn't lied about, was that she was looking for Stefan. She wanted him back. And she would get him back, whatever it took. Katherine was the only person in the way - other than Elena, but she could be disposed of quickly – but Klaus would see to it that she was dead, and then there would be no other threats for her getting Stefan back.

Klaus nodded, turned back around and started to walk to the door. Bex relaxed a little.

"I'll be back for the doppelgänger. To take her now would be too easy. And I just love a challenge, don't you?" He said, and then he was gone.

Jeremy was huddled in his covers, tears staining his cheeks his head aching, his heart aching, everything hurt, so bad that he just wanted to kill himself, shut his eyes and wake up where Bonnie was, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The only people holding him back were Elena and Alaric. Heavy sobs choked him blocked everything, he couldn't breathe, he panicked, felt his air ways closing, his eyes fluttering, when suddenly he felt someone slapping his back, forcing him to breathe. Jeremy broke into coughing fits as the face of a Bennett witch gazed down on him.

"This can't be happening..no..no." He shook his head over and over.

"Help me."

"Bonnie..I."

"Jer..my.." Her voice was fading away, but he wanted to keep it with him forever. Jeremy sat up immediately. She wasn't clear like Anna and Vicki were clear, but more like a mirage, a fragmented image that wavered and flickered every second. She was wearing the same clothes that she had died in, and they were torn and dirty, hanging off of her thin and weathered shoulders. No matter what, Jeremy thought she still looked beautiful.

"Don't..don't leave me." He pleaded, but she wasn't looking at him.

"J..eremy..sacrifice...must..mak.."

"Bonnie? Who, what are you talkin.."

Bonnies image flickered and enhanced.

"Elena. She must make a sacrifice."

Jeremy looked up at the ghost figure with tears leaking from his eyes.

"I..I don't understand."

Now tears were coming to the ghost figure's eyes too.

"She must. She must make a sacrifice."

Bonnie repeated, over and over until Jeremy's ears hurt and his head rang, and then Bonnie closed her eyes and like a switch had just been flicked, she disappeared.

Damon smelt the blood. Smelt _her_ blood. And no matter how much it hurt, he forced himself to wake up because _she_ needed him. He was covered in his own blood, and he felt so tired, so..so sleepy..but he couldn't sleep, he couldn't! He had to force himself to stay awake..why did he have to stay awake? The drowsy tiredness was hitting him now, full throttle, dragging him under and into the sudden groggy tidal wave that crashed through him, thick and heavy, and unstoppable..

And then unbelievable pain jerked him back to consciousness. Someone was holding him still so that he didn't flinch, and someone was pulling the Vervain needles out of him with gloved hands. He had to squint past the blood pouring down his face to see who it was. His heart practically skipped a beat.

_Stefan._

Damon had never been so happy in his life to see his little brother. But he wasn't so much little in the literal sense anymore. Stefan was lithe and agile, muscular, and he worked quickly, stealthily, without emotion as if it were just another job he had to endure for Klaus.

Stefan threw each of the needles behind him being careful that they missed Caroline.

_Caroline._

Stefan's heart ached momentarily. She looked so angelic and peaceful and reminded him so much of Lexy. He shook his head clearing the forming image of his dead friend as he threw Damon some bags of blood from his rucksack. No. It was forbidden to think of her now. Not when he had returned to the person who was a monster, the person that she had once changed. And Stefan knew that he could never go back.

Stefan pulled off the gloves and waited for Damon to down each blood-baggie.

"Why are you here Steffi? Why come back to your totally _awesome_ brother in another hour of need?" Damon coughed, clearing his throat that was feeling a whole lot better.

It took a while for Stefan to answer.

Stefan shrugged, trying to look as if he couldn't care less. But it was hopeless, Damon could see right through him. Damon laughed. It was easy to see when Stefan was putting on an act, he was his brother, he knew him so well.

"Klaus sent me. He wants the..doppelgänger..alive." Stefan couldn't bring himself to say her name, because whenever he tried to, he felt a lump in his throat and it took so much effort to swallow past it.

"Yeah, figures." Damon just about managed a weak eye-roll.

"He sent me to make sure she's okay." He answered bluntly, pulling a face.

Damon snorted.

"Hardly." He turned his head so that he could shoot an accusing gaze at his brother. "How do you think she's doing? She just got mauled by your BFF Saint Rebecca. I know, why don't we go see." Damon practically growled, pointing at Elena who was a couple of metres or so away from the group in the corner of the room on her own so that no one could help her. He had just about enough energy to blur over to her, and when he got there he felt on the edge of drained.

Stefan followed after him, and Damon could see the pure pain in his eyes and watched with grim satisfaction as his brothers face paled and he turned his head away. At least now Damon knew that there was enough of him left to even hope that he could be saved.

"Stop.." Stefan whispered, smoothing down his face with his hand.

Damon didn't move from where he was next to Elena. He knew he had to be careful. Even vulnerable Stefan could be dangerous, and he didn't want Elena getting any more hurt than she already was.

"Aw, does it hurt? Does it pain you to look at her? To look at the woman you love, when she's practically _bleeding_ to death?"

Stefan kicked over a pile of boxes, and Damon watched them tumble to the floor like domino's.

"I said stop! What do you want me to say? That I care?" Stefan told him. It was a half angry cry and half laugh.

"Yes! That would do a whole _world_ of good."

Damon said. His mind was half flashing back to that night on the roof top with Stefan and Vicky when he'd wanted Stefan to realise who he was, that he was really a blood sucking monster, a true vampire. And now here he was wanting to hear the exact opposite.

"No, no it wouldn't. I'm not going to change. You need to leave. Now." Stefan said, pulling the wolfsbane out of Tyler and then putting the gloves back on and pulling the Vervain out of Caroline.

"And Bex is gone. I'm leading her away. She was using Elena to attract my attention, and needed Katherine to give to Klaus."

Damon snorted.

"Yeah, right, like giving him Katherine is gonna keep that bastard-mutt sweet from killing her ass."

Stefan smiled slightly.

"One thing you never do is believe Bex, Damon. She's not on the run, not yet anyway. She's buying time."

Stefan blurred to the door, pulling it open with ease.

"Oh, and one more thing. Klaus said something..he said 'she's not dead'.."

Damon frowned.

"Who?"

Stefan was already out of the door, but Damon didn't need his vamp ears and hearing to pick up his answering shout.

"Bonnie."

Before Damon had even a second to think about what that could possibly mean, he remembered the bleeding girl in his arms. Instinctively and lightening fast he bit into his arm and watched satisfied at the dots of blood that dewed up and beaded together like droplets of water on a spiders web. Gently he opened Elena's mouth and positioned his wrist between her lips so that his blood ran smoothly down her throat. All the while he stroked her hair and told himself that she would be okay, that everything would be alright. And then he found himself thinking about when he had woken up in her arms drinking her blood the night that Bonnie had died, and he remembered looking up at her and seeing an angel. And it was in a similar position to the one that he was in now that she had kissed him. He felt his lips curl, and Damon wondered that if he did the same, that if he kissed her that maybe she would wake up. He wondered if he should do it, if he should dare to risk everything for a kiss..

He narrowed his eyes in temptation, and swallowed down the urge. And then there was all of this blood..Damon shook his head. Yes blood affected him, but as long as he tried, as long as he kept on fighting the cravings and as long as he remembered it was Elena in his arms and not someone else, he would be okay.

He looked down on her, and realised that she wasn't swallowing.

Ah crap, why wasn't she swallowing!

Damon started panicking. He was starting to feel light headed. He'd lost too much blood. But so had Elena, and he'd known the risks, and he still had gone ahead and tried to heal her even though his own life was at stake.

Damon could feel tears pooling in his eyes. If he lost her..he lost everything. The woman he loved, his humanity..

Just as he was thinking this, he heard someone groan from behind him.

Damon turned quickly towards the noise.

It was Caroline. She was beginning to wake up. Damon blurred over to her, taking Elena with him.

Caroline was vaguely aware that Damon was standing over her, but when she tried to lift her head it just sagged back down again. She didn't have the energy.

Damon tore open the rucksack Stefan had left, and tossed her three of the five blood-baggies that were left and kept the other two for himself.

When she was done drinking she shuffled towards him.

"Caroline, hold Elena's head back."

Damon ordered, his voice rough. Time was running out, and he had to make her drink.

Caroline nodded and did what he said, because she knew that he only used her proper name if it was serious.

Damon cursed under his breath.

"It's not working." His voice was a growl. Caroline sighed, trying to think of a plan. Suddenly a thought struck her.

"Hey, maybe she can hear us." Caroline said. "Elena, we need you to drink. Please?" Caroline pleaded. They both turned to Elena, examining her. Nothing happened.

Damon was beginning to get angry. Caroline watched his eyes flash angrily. But he wasn't angry at Elena, no, he could never be properly angry with Elena. He was angry with Bex. Furious for doing this to her. He swore that one day he would make her pay.

This time Damon decided to try and get through to her.

"Elena, for God's sake if you don't drink _right now_ I'm turning you into a vampire."

He waited for a moment. Then he nearly exploded with relief when he watched her throat move a tiny bit and she swallowed about a millimetre, and then stopped again. Damon listened to her heart rise, gaining pace for a few minutes, before it started whispering away.

"Elena..come on brown eyes." He whispered, and pressed his lips to her forehead for a second, but it was long enough for him to notice how cold she was. Too cold.

Caroline watched with wide eyes. Yes, she'd known all along that Damon was a big softy underneath all of his bad boy exterior, and that really, he just wanted to be loved, but she'd never seen this side of him before. This was the side that he only ever showed to Elena, and never to anyone else, and especially not to Caroline.

Caroline cleared her throat.

"The thing Elijah said..about the doppelgänger..the main elements thingy. Air, water.."

"Fire, Earth and Day." Damon finished.

"Yeah. Well, I was thinking, maybe she needs to be, you know, around things that are gonna help her to heal, 'cause maybe she hasn't got enough energy yet. We saw for ourselves, I mean, she could barely drink that tiny bit of blood, let alone a whole mouthful."

Damon looked at Caroline, and for once in her life, she actually saw some respect in his eyes that he felt for her, and she couldn't help but give a tiny smile.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

She asked, careful not to get her hopes up too high.

Damon nodded slowly.

"Hmm. You know what Caroline, maybe you are." Damon acknowledged.

Caroline grinned, feeling suddenly a whole lot more optimistic. She carefully laid Elena's head onto Damon's lap, and sprinted back to Tyler.

"Now all we need is for Ty to wake up, then we can brain storm." She thought out loud, and stroked the werewolf's face lovingly.

"No time." Damon said, already at the door with Elena in his arms.

"What do you mean?"

Damon sighed.

"I mean, if we wait for him, it will already be too late."

Caroline understood, and neither of them wanted to talk about Elena dying.

"You either leave him here.."

"No. No way."

Caroline cut in.

Damon rolled his eyes. Caroline sighed. He was back to his usual self, covering up his emotions so that he could try to make everything turn out okay, and so that if it didn't, he wouldn't get hurt as much.

"Fine, have it your way." Damon muttered. "We'll have to put him in the back-seat with you and Elena."

Caroline nodded, and went to pick Tyler up. She positioned him easily on her back so that his head leant on her shoulder. She took one step, then another..then collapsed on the floor.

Caroline gasped for air that she didn't even need.

"I can't lift him Damon, I'm not strong enough. I need more blood." Caroline felt the veins stand out beneath her eyes for a few seconds. She huffed, and shrugged Tyler off of her.

Damon took a step towards her, sighing impatiently, and then Caroline saw another crack in his hard exterior. He was holding out his arms that still held Elena. Caroline knew what he wanted her to do. He wanted her to take Elena off of him. He had his eyes closed, and he was trying to persuade himself to let her go.

"Take care of her." His voice was rough with emotion. "Don't take your eyes off of her. Not for a second." Damon whispered through gritted teeth, and he slowly eased her out of his arms and positioned her into Caroline's waiting ones.

"I'm trusting you Caroline."

He finished, and then he picked Tyler up and off of the floor, slung him over his back, and without leaving any time to change his mind, blurred out of the building.

Elena was a lot lighter that Tyler, and Caroline followed after Damon almost immediately. She found him waiting outside by the car. He had his back to her, and he was leaning with one hand on the car. When he heard her coming, he straightened up and moved out of her way so that she could buckle Elena in on the right side of the car, before she got in, squidged in between her, and Tyler, who Damon had already put in on the left side.

"So where we going?"

Caroline asked.

"I don't know Caroline. Got any ideas?" He snapped. His hands were tight on the steering wheel.

Caroline thought for a moment.

"Some place open, outside, maybe? Day is one of the main ones connected to her right? And when I think of Day, I think, the Sun. And then there's Air and Earth..we need wind and, I don't know. Ground, trees, nature stuff. Fire..you could just use.."

"Candles." Damon finished, eyes narrowed, as if he was thinking. They reached a roundabout, and he swerved right round, heading back to Mystic Falls at full speed.

Before Caroline had time to ask, Damon started to explain.

"What if we don't need all that. The witches in Jenna's letter said they'd help. Now we're off to go get it, whether they're pissed off with me as usual or not."

"But, this is taking a _big_ risk Damon. What if it doesn't work? What if Elena ends up dead?"

Damon swallowed.

"Then she won't be alone. I'll make sure of that."

Damon answered.

Caroline understood what he meant.

Bex was sitting with her feet propped up delicately on a box and drinking a cup of blood to calm her nerves.

She'd tracked Stefan back to the warehouse, but by the time she'd arrived, he was already long gone..or so she thought.

Her ears pricked up, and she placed the glass delicately on the wood.

Footsteps treading lightly through dust sounded someone's approach. Stefan glided easily out of the shadows, eyes black and his expression sullen, rebellious. Bad boy. Just the way Bex liked it.

Bex smiled slyly, and purred like a cat.

"Glad to see that you've _finally_ come to your senses."

Bex blurred up to him, and Stefan let her hands flutter over him as she closed the distance between them.

"No, but I have."

Another voice said. Bex barely had time to whirl around to see Klaus standing with the white ash dagger already half penetrating into her chest.

Bex gasped and fell to the floor. She could feel the life running out of her.

"I..did..as you asked." She choked out. She could see the grey veins swirling up the arm that she had outstretched.

"Yes, you did. But unfortunately, it wasn't good enough."

Klaus whispered, his mouth right next to her ear. He shoved the dagger in a little further and Bex screeched out in pain.

"You..c..can't do this...you're a vampire..you'll..die."

Bex cringed away from him, using nearly all of her strength.

Klaus stroked his sisters hair.

"Aww, I appreciate your concern, but I'm not a vampire sweety. I'm a hybrid," He shoved it in with a final crunch and watched her body go grey and lifeless in his arms.

"And don't you forget it."


	28. Chapter 28 Seeing Ghosts

**A/N: So sorry I haven't written in so long! I've been so busy with school work and half term that I completely forgot! Hope you guys all had an amazing Christmas if you celebrate it, and I wish you Peace, Love and Happiness for the New Year! Happy 2012, planning to update another two chapters tonight as well! - Leahlovessalvatore124 **

Chapter Twenty Eight – Seeing Ghosts

"Easy Caroline." Damon instructed, keeping a close eye on her as they both sped up to the front porch, Caroline with Elena in her arms, and Damon with Tyler in his. Suddenly Caroline stopped.

"Damon..what if they don't let us? I mean, what if the witches won't even let us inside the house?"

Caroline said, hesitating wearily.

Damon sighed.

"Then we go to plan B."

Damon said, moving quickly towards the door. Caroline followed easily after him.

"Plan B?"

"Me threatening their dead asses off."

Damon leaned Tyler against the door to the witch house for a second and stretched his aching shoulders.

"Whew. Someone needs to lose a couple pounds."

Damon stretched out his hands in-front of him. Caroline narrowed her eyes and looked at him sharply before approaching the door.

"Who's going in first..me or you?"

She asked.

Damon snorted.

"_Scared_ Caroline?" Damon teased.

"No." Caroline objected. "But I think I should anyway, seeing as you're not exactly their favourite person." Caroline lifted her hand to knock on the door, as if she was expecting someone to answer it.

Damon sighed.

"They're dead, they're screwed, so who _cares_?"

Damon made an attempt to brush past her, but Caroline put her foot down.

"No. I'll go." Caroline said. She quickly pushed open the door and poked her head through the doorway, checking both ways. Nope. No scary ghosts or anything, just stairs, cobwebs and a bunch of waxy candles.

Caroline took a deep breath, and handed Elena carefully over to Damon, just in case.

_Go on in, you can do it. Like you said, you're not girly little Caroline anymore._

She told herself, and then slowly but surely she put one foot in-front of the other, cautiously checking that there were no weird witchy vamp-traps as she went. She was still inspecting and turning her head this way and that when she called out to Damon.

"Yeah, everything's good everything's grea.."

Her voice trailed off, and suddenly she couldn't move her head, she couldn't move anything. She felt as if someone had super glued her feet to the floor, like the time she'd been out shopping with Elena and gum had got stuck to her shoe, but this time it was much, much worse. She felt hot. Too hot. And the burning sensation started from the tips of her toes and was rapidly spreading up and up her body, thick and fast like venom tinged fire.

Caroline felt some of the old Caroline creeping through.

_Oh my God, fire! Fire! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!_

"Ahhh! Damon! I can't freakin' move!"

Caroline squealed. She could feel it spreading up to her lungs, to her chest, she couldn't breathe, she felt like she was choking, and Damon was just standing there, rolling his eyes. Caroline wanted to punch him.

"Figures. Them and their invisible witchy crap."

Damon said, a smile half creeping across his lips.

Caroline could feel tears threatening to spill.

"Fire! Damon, for God's sake don't just stand there, because I swear to God.."

Caroline was cut off as the burning sensation enveloped her neck, and she felt something horrible and sour tasting building its way up, forcing itself up her throat.

"Super Damon coming to the rescue." Damon reasoned cracking his knuckles before launching himself through the doorway..only to bounce right off of it like it was an invisible barrier, an impenetrable sheet of glass that he could neither see or sense.

Damon angrily pressed his hand up against the barrier so that he could feel it. He swore under his breath, cursing and glaring at the sky.

"Oh for craps sake, open the damn door-thingy would ya?" He shouted angrily, knowing all the smug biddy bitch-witches were probably looking down on him, high-fiving because they'd managed to outsmart him. Damon slammed one fist against the wall. So this was his punishment for being an ass to Bonnie, and Bree, and Emily, and practically any other witch that he'd screwed over or ripped hearts out of. To sit and watch Blondie die. And then sit and watch Elena die, because he couldn't get in there. Damon cursed.

"If you're looking for some kind of apology, you won't find one here. Carry on looking y'old bunch of hags."

He shouted, turning his gaze back to Caroline. She was trembling, and her head was moving like a snake unhinging its jaw, or a cat coughing up a fur ball. He grimaced. What was he supposed to do now? Appeal to their 'better' nature?

Ah, shit, he was screwed.

Damon sighed impatiently.

"Don't make me come up there!" He called hysterically sounding like a mad parent.

Caroline was gagging, coughing something up that Damon couldn't see because she was facing the other way. Damon took a running sprint up to the door, hoping his full force would break the weird threshold, but it was no use.

"Hang on Barb..."

He called to her, but a disgusting wet puking sound came the blonde vampire, cutting him off, and a smell he instantly recognised from over a century ago with Katherine filled his nostrils. Blood. Vampire blood. And she was standing there, puking up bucket loads, thick red stuff running down her face, down her clothes, and her screams were choked off by more coughing, so that they sounded more like suffocated gurgles. Damon stopped in his tracks, a horrifying thought spearing his mind.

She was going to drown in her own blood, and the invisible fire feeling would finish her off until she was nothing but a pile of blonde bloody ashes.

Damon growled angrily.

"I'll do whatever you want, just make it stop!" He shouted, surveying the house for any witch-ghosts.

A fierce gust of wind swirled around him encircled by a sweep of bracken and leaves, and the force of it made his clothes and jacket blow out behind him.

A ghostly voice, like a hint of a whisper sounded as if it was right next to him, though he knew it had been carried on the wind. It was so quiet he had to strain his vampire ears to hear it, and he rolled his eyes. The voice was sharp and quiet at the same time, and held the same authority and courage that he had heard in both Sheila and Bonnie's voices. _Emily_.

"Then we have a deal." The voice whispered, empowering and ghost-like. Damon nodded wordlessly, even though he knew it was dangerous to bargain with a powerful witch, even a dead one, without knowing what the deal actually was. "Your friends may stay." The voice stated hauntingly.

"Thankyou, Emsy darling, but the question is, can you help them?"

The wind blew harder then, whipping strands of Damon's hair into his eyes, and rushing at him so hard that he had to grip the doorway with one hand to keep his footing.

"You trespass onto property where you are not invited, and you expect to be treated like you belong?" The voice was angry, and had rose to such a level that it made Damon's ears ring.

"Oh, you know me so well." Damon quipped, flashing a dashing smile as if she was standing right next to him with her hands planted firmly on her hips, giving him an angry disapproving look just like he imagined her. The voice sighed.

"You will pay one price for each of the injured." Emily continued stormily, and a flash of lightning zigzagged across the sky, and the hand that Damon had been pressing against the barrier fell through as the barrier disappeared, and he blurred over to Caroline, who was still rooted to the spot coughing blood.

"It is done."

Emily's voice thundered, and another flash of lightning signalled her disappearance, and that was when Caroline collapsed. Damon rolled her over. She was still shaking, and he'd never seen anything like it. Blood was running down her face like tears, from eyes that were stained red like a demon's, and she was taking slow short breaths, like she was hyperventilating. She was still coughing and spitting remnants of blood out of her mouth. And Damon did one of the most awkward things he had ever done to Caroline. He took her into his arms and hugged her. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, as she calmed down and the red tinge faded from her eyes, then he released her, inspecting her with worried eyes.

"Feeling better?" He asked. Caroline nodded, sniffing, and silently wiped the blood off of her face and eyes with a tissue in her pocket. Damon helped her to her feet as she was a little wobbly.

"How's Elena?" Caroline asked, coughing weakly, and bravely trying to soldier on.

Damon turned his attention to the pale white thing in his arms, and gently stroked her face with one of his hands.

"Not good." He said honestly. "Any idea where Bonbon's grimoires and stuff are?" Damon asked.

Caroline shook her head sadly.

"Afraid not. Although Jeremy might." Caroline thought helpfully. Damon sighed. That was exactly what he didn't want to do. Bring Jeremy, Elena's kid brother into this any more than he already was, and plus, neither he or Alaric had any idea that she was hurt, unconscious and on the edge of death.

"Give him a call, would ya?" He asked, knowing it was his only option. "I'll try and get through to her. Her heart's too slow." Damon re-positioned her so that she rested her head in her lap. He felt his canines half lengthen, but then Caroline interrupted.

"No. No more blood. You'll be too weak, Damon." Caroline said as she waited for Jeremy to pick up. One ring..two rings..

Damon sighed frustratedly.

"Whatever. What do expect me to do? CPR?"

He asked. Caroline narrowed her eyes.

"That might help." She said, and then she turned away from him to talk to Jeremy.

Damon looked at Elena in his arms like a pale limp thing. He didn't exactly feel comfortable doing it in-front of Caroline, but whatever helped Elena, he decided it was worth a try.

He positioned his hands together on-top of Elena's chest, and pushed down hard as he counted three pumps in his head. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, clearing away some of his own blood from earlier when he'd bitten into his wrist, held her head in place so that it didn't loll to the side, and took a deep gulp of air before positioning his mouth onto hers, just like he would if he was kissing her, and blew all of his oxygen into her, imagining her alive, and well, smiling at him with hair a splay of glossy chocolate. When he pulled back he carried on pumping her chest with his hands, and repeated the motion several times as he listened both to Elena's heartbeat, and to the conversation that Caroline was having with Jeremy.

"Hey, Jeremy!" Caroline answered, trying to sound happy and cheerful.

"Caroline? How come you're calling on Damon's phone?" Jeremy's voice was hoarse and rough. It was obvious he'd been crying, and he made no attempt to hide it.

Caroline blew out, exhausted.

"Long story, no time. Listen. I know this is a question you don't exactly want to hear right now, but we need to know. The witch house, is any of Bonnie's books and stuff there?" Caroline cut straight to the point. Damon could practically hear Jeremy's eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Downstairs. It all ready has a lot of Bonnie's grimoires in, she didn't get to clear them up." Jeremy whispered sadly.

"Thanks Jeremy." Caroline nodded, and swallowed. "You be careful, okay? Don't do anything stupid." She said. She decided she wasn't going to tell him about Elena. He was already too cut up about Bonnie.

"Caroline..I..need to talk." Jeremy said. Caroline thought his voice sounded like he was crying.

Caroline threw Damon a glance.

Damon shook his head.

"Action now, chit-chat later." He said. He'd picked up Elena and was heading down the stairs opposite her. It was obvious he'd been listening in.

Caroline sighed.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have to go. Now." Caroline told Jeremy gently. Jeremy could tell she was about to cut him off.

"No, Caroline wait! Please, it's important!"

"Jeremy.."

"Just put Damon on the phone. Please Caroline." Jeremy pleaded.

Caroline huffed and followed after Damon. Damon gave her an irritated look.

"He says it's important."

Caroline told him.

"I heard. But if you wanna work with me on this Blondie, you've got to follow my rules."

Damon said, laying Elena down softly onto the floor.

"Look, he already thinks you're a dick, so why would he call if it wasn't something we needed to know." Caroline shot back.

Damon took a deep breath, and held out his hand.

Caroline tossed it to him easily.

"You have five seconds."

Damon practically growled into the phone. He was still half examining Elena, and her heart was whispering away by the second. He didn't want to waste the time he could be saving her on a stupid phone-call.

"It's Elena." Jeremy got out all at once. "She's not in her room.."

Damon could barely control his anger.

"She's with me, you moron."

Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, okay. But I still need to talk." Then he paused, unsure whether or not to carry on. "Something happened to me. Don't ask me why or how..but I'm seeing things." He got out.

Damon rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"What, magic fairies or mystic dragons? Are you mad or something, 'cause right now, I don't have time to hitch you a ride to crazy town. Five seconds are up. You have a nice day." Damon went to press the end-call button, but Jeremy was still shouting down the phone.

"Elena! Something's going to happen to her, you jack-ass!" He yelled desperately.

Damon whipped the phone back to his ear.

"I'm listening."

"I've been seeing ghosts. First Vicky, then Anna, and now Bonnie."

Damon sighed. He really was crazy.

"They're dead dude. You need to move on Gilbert." Damon said.

He heard Jeremy curse under his breath.

"You think I don't know that? If you don't wanna hear it, fine." There was silence.

Damon took a deep breath.

"Hear what. Go on. But if you're trying to pull some kind of bull-crap on me or something I swear I won't hesitate to snap your _tiny_ little neck."

"I saw Bonnie tonight. I was holed up in my room, and she came to me. She said something about Elena.." Jeremy started, his voice wavering.

"What? What did she say?"

Jeremy swallowed.

"She said, 'Elena has to make a sacrifice'."

Damon swore.

"Did she say what _kind_ of sacrifice?" Damon asked, frantic and impatient, and secretly scared.

"No."

Jeremy answered.

"Where's she now? Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah..about that.." Damon's voice trailed off.

"What did you do?"

"She's unconscious and..she possibly _might_ die." Damon blurted, and quickly cut off the phone before Jeremy could start going ballistic at him.

They both looked at Elena. Caroline looked at Damon.

"So now what?"

Before either of them could say anything more, there was a loud coughing sound from above them. They both froze in their tracks. Heavy foot-falls thudded like a dead heart, like something was coming to get them.

Caroline was shaking.

"What..was that?" She whispered.

"I don't know," Damon tensed, unconsciously moving in-front of her and Elena. "But I have a feeling we're about to find out."


	29. Chapter 29 No Life After Death

**A/N: Okay, you guys may hate me for this chapter! Killing/not killing off a certain character! Well, you'll just have to read and find out! Thank you vamp-loving read and reviewers for all of the support, you make my writing dreams come true! - Leahlovessalvatore124**

Chapter Twenty Nine – No Life After Death

Caroline choked down a scream.

"Tyler?" She cried, and flung herself into his arms. She was so glad he was okay, so glad he was awake. She didn't care that he smelt like blood and sweat, and that his clothes were damp and his hair was matted. She was just happy that she had him in her arms. He gave her a huge kiss and the warmth of it spread through Caroline all the way to the tips of her fingers. But after a couple of minutes, he pulled back, worried, confused.

"Why the hell are we even at the witch house?" He asked, his voice rough. Caroline explained everything to him that had happened while he'd been unconscious, about Bex and Emily, and the whole way through, Tyler eyed Damon who hadn't moved from his spot ever since he'd come downstairs. That wasn't like Damon. Tyler noted. He was always there to make a sarcastic remark or do something to wind him up. But he was just standing there like some kind of vampire statue. And his face was wild. He looked angry.

"What's his problem?" Tyler murmured to his girlfriend. Caroline stopped babbling and turned to look at the black haired vamp. Damon glared back at him. Tyler almost squealed. He was angry alright.

"Wow. Are you seriously this _stupid_?"

Damon practically growled.

Tyler shrank and looked confused.

"Huh? What are you even talking about?"

Damon rolled his eyes and paced towards them.

"While you two little love-birds were making a nest in each others mouths did you listen to anything Blondie even _said_?" Damon raised his eyebrows. "Specifically the bit about the encounter with 'mad witch from hell'?"

"Yeah! I was listening!" Tyler told him, taking a step towards him. He wasn't gonna let Damon push _him_ around.

"Then let me ask you something. You woke up and you came inside the house. But no normal werewolf could have had the energy to actually come _bounding_ down here like some kind of mutant were-bunny, not after you were tied up and stabbed with Wolfsbane, you moron." Damon took a step closer so that he was looking Tyler directly in the eyes. "Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Tyler frowned for a moment.

"Umm..I'm getting there." He answered. Damon was irritated as he tried to put the pieces together for Tyler.

"So the witches decided to give you a little help. You crawled to the door, then when you got inside, they must have spelled you with some kind of _energy_." Damon told both of them. "_Darling_ Emily said that we'll pay one price for each of the injured. She already choked and cured Caroline, and she's agreed to help Elena, and now you!" Damon practically hissed, sarcasm about Emily and anger for Tyler dripping from his voice like hot venom. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be in debt to a _witch_?"

Tyler half snorted.

"You're the one who agreed to it, so don't go pointing your leechy finger at me." He spat at him. Then quickly paused.

"No offence, Care."

Caroline shrugged.

"None taken."

Damon looked like he wanted to rip his head off. He grabbed Tyler by the collar, and Tyler took a swing at him. Caroline pulled at Damon's fists.

"Put him down! Seriously, let go. Guys, we need to stop with the fighting!"

Both guys ignored her.

"That's just bullshit. How do you know any of that..is even..true?" Tyler got out, finding it hard to breathe. "How do you know..I didn't heal when I was sleeping?"

Damon's eyes flashed.

"Your body was coping with enough trying to keep you alive, let alone trying to heal, you pumped-up little _flea_ bag." Damon snarled. "I've seen were-wolves conscious and in more of a state then you , and still find it hard to heal."

Tyler stayed in an angry silence. But Damon was too mad to let it go.

"I killed your Uncle, remember? I tortured him and stuffed wolfsbane down his throat while he _watched_." Damon gave him one last tug, then let go and he dropped to the floor. Tears of rage streamed down the werewolf's face, and he gave a loud guttural cry and lunged. For a moment Damon thought he was going for him, but he wasn't, Tyler was lunging to the side. The werewolf landed half-way up the steps, and he wrenched at one of the wooden banisters. It came out with a satisfying crunch, the others toppled down after it, clattering to the floor, and it echoed through the witch house like brewing thunder. Tyler held the picket in his right hand and screeched, launching himself off into the air and at Damon like an angry tornado, eyes glowing gold, teeth bared, fingers curled into claws. Then it was as if everything was happening in slow motion. He saw the raging were-wolf and the makeshift stake in his hand, and then suddenly like lightning, he felt the air stir around him, and Caroline was crouching in-front of him, veins swirling around her eyes, hissing, fangs on show. Tyler's face transformed into shock and desperation. He needed to stop, but it was too late. He was already hurtling through the air at enormous speed, and there was no way he would be able to stop himself. Tyler shouted at his girlfriend to move, that he couldn't stop, but his words became garbled, he was moving to fast. Then time unfroze and Damon did something that he was sure would dent his reputation, something that he was sure as hell he would have never done, but he did it anyway. In one lithe movement he shot his hand out and pushed Caroline aside, positioning himself back into the firing line. He was a sitting duck, and there was nothing he could do about it. He raised his arms out in an attempt to block him, and then Tyler pounced. Damon closed his eyes. He didn't need to open them to know that he'd failed. That Tyler had been right on target. He could feel the stake protruding out of him like a gory axe out of someone in the horror movies without actually touching it with his hands. He could feel the wound around it, he could smell the blood. Damon fell to his knees, and managed to constrain a low whimper. Damon could feel the stake scraping at his heart. This death was strange. Nothing like the were-wolf bite. It would be quick. Peaceful. And in a way he felt as if he were floating away. He wondered if vampires went anywhere after they died. He didn't think they did. Apparently they just went out. Like blowing out a candle or switching off a light. That was it. For vampires, there was no life after death. Damon didn't believe in heaven anyway. He wasn't giving up hope though. Maybe he'd come back like Vicki and Anna. He'd like that. Maybe he'd be able to get a message to Elena, if she was alright after this. He knew there was something he had to tell her..something important, but his mind was all foggy and it was getting quite hard to remember. He could hear distant cries, Caroline probably, and the numb feeling of someone shaking him that was gradually beginning to disappear. At least it hadn't been for nothing. He knew it hadn't been all for Caroline, it had mostly been for Elena. If she woke up..Damon stopped. When she woke up, she wouldn't want her other best-friend dead too would she? Then another voice interrupted Damon's last moments of mind drama. It was like bells shimmering, twinkling in the wind. Angelic, almost, but he recognised it, and it was a lot less bitter than when he'd last heard it.

Emily's voice was almost like a whisper, but it was also vivid and clear.

_But she wouldn't want you dead either would she?_

**A/N: Cliffhanger right? And what's up with Tyler? Is he peeved at Damon, or is it something more? Let me know what you think! Also I was wondering, anyone want me to bring back any other ghosts from the past? Maybe Lexy or Mason, or annoying John? - Leahlovessalvatore124**


	30. Chapter 30 Decision

Chapter Thirty - Decision

_**Emily?**_

Damon asked the voice. It was strange. He'd never talked with his mind before.

_Yes Damon._

The voice replied.

Damon paused, and he could feel himself slipping away, getting weaker. Somehow he knew he didn't have much time before the lights went out, but he didn't know how to ask her this.

_**Emily..I'm going to die now aren't I?**_

Damon whispered with his mind.

Emily thought that he reminded her of the sweet vulnerable little child that he used to be. She hadn't seen Damon like this in a long time. She softened her voice.

_That is what I want to talk to you about._

Emily told him in hushed tones.

_**Maybe later..**_

Damon said softly

_**I'm so tired..**_

He almost felt like yawning. Damon could sense Emily's soft gentle smile, one that he hadn't seen directed towards him in years.

When she spoke her voice was calm, warm, sensitive.

_You need to make a decision, young one._

She told him. A distant part of Damon's mind wanted to snort at the 'young one' comment, but he realised that really he was much younger than she was. A strange sensible part of Damon made sure he kept quiet and listened to what the witch had to say.

_You don't have much time._

She said firmly

_I helped another witch to bring back a young boy she loved very much, he was dead, and that was what upset the balance, as well as Klaus. You are at death's door. You are being invited inside, but you need to decide whether or not it is your time. I can only help you if you are willing. You must decide, Damon Salvatore, whether you live or die._

Emily finished.

Damon didn't know what to say. He was scared that the numbness would kick in and take him away before he had any time to answer her question. For some reason, some part of him was telling him to survive..there was something he had to remember..**someone**. Someone who he love very much..**two** someone's, but the faces he could hardly picture, only in flashes. Long brown hair, and the other person, a boy with a ring like his..

But then again, it was so peaceful. Maybe it would be okay just to drift away for a little while..

**No.**

A part of him said.

**You're Damon Salvatore, you're not weak, don't give in, not yet.**

It told him.

Normal Damon sighed.

_**I'm tired of looking after people all the time, and I'm tired of getting my ass kicked lately.**_ Damon thought to himself. _**To give in would be so much easier.**_

Then a thought struck him. He took a deep breath and tried to wake himself up.

_**When I get out of here I won't be the one getting my ass kicked. Tyler will.**_

A voice cut in to his mind anger.

_Damon. Have you made your decision?_

Emily said.

_**Hell yeah!**_

Damon crowed.

_**Zap me outta here Em.**_

Emily's voice suddenly sounded irritated. It seemed that she didn't like Damon as his usual self.

_Very well._

She said.

_But while your here, I'll remind you of our deal._

_**Yeah, yeah, I remember.**_

Damon told her. He didn't know why but he remembered that something was happening in the real world, and he needed to be there.

_And this favour means one more price._

Damon gave a mental nod.

_**Yeah, I get it lady.**_

Emily gave a frustrated little huff.

_Don't make me regret this._

She said. And then Damon was blinded by a flash of white light. His whole body felt numb, weightless, as if he were walking on water, flying, and then it stopped. And then he felt as though he were sinking in water, being squished back into his physical form.


	31. Chapter 31 The Call

Chapter Thirty One – The Call

Caroline let Damon's lifeless body slip out of her arms. His eyes were shut, his head turned to the side, he didn't look like Damon. He looked like Tinker-bell had in Peter Pan when her light had gone out. She wiped her face. She had no tears left in her, not anymore. And then she realised what her hands were covered with. Blood. And now it was on her face, in her hair, she felt disgusted. She could sense Tyler behind her. He wasn't moving. He was completely frozen. Caroline was shaking as she picked herself up off of the floor. She debated whether or not to pull the wood out of him, but as she placed her hands on either side, she felt someone else's hand on her elbow.

"Care, don't," Tyler got out gently. "You'll rip his chest out with it."

Caroline wrenched her arm roughly from his grip.

"How would you know that? How?" Caroline shouted at him. Her eyes were dry, and no tears were falling. Part of Caroline hadn't yet accepted Damon's death. Part of her was still foggy, believing in some strange, surreal, hazy reality. One more wrong move from Tyler and she would crack. "How many other vampires have you slaughtered Tyler?"

Caroline gave a hysterical laugh.

"Care, I'm so sorry," Tyler reached for her again. Caroline jerked away.

"No. Don't apologise to me Tyler." Caroline snapped. "I'd say apologise to Damon, but obviously you can't." Caroline felt scared. Which was strange because she'd never been scared of Tyler before in her whole life.

"What do you expect me to do, Care? We're natural enemies, me and him." Tyler gestured to Damon.

Caroline laughed again, a cold harsh bark.

"So are we! But we made it, didn't we?" Caroline took a bold step forward. "You didn't have to kill him."

Tyler's face distorted.

"I know." He whispered. "I just felt so angry, it was like I wasn't myself anymore." Tyler took a step towards her. Caroline flinched, but didn't back down. "You understand that, don't you Caroline?"

"I know what it's like to be angry, Tyler, but asking me to understand why you did what you did, that's impossible."

Tyler laughed, and she saw some dark light in his eyes that she had never seen there before.

"You think I'm a monster? You've killed people before, that makes us the same."

Caroline rebuked.

"I know what I've done in my past, Tyler, but I'm not going back. But I didn't kill my friends."

Tyler laughed.

"Damon wasn't my friend."

"That's right mutt. And he still isn't."

A voice sounded from behind them, and Caroline jumped. Tyler looked confused, bewildered, scared, a whole bunch of emotions crossing over his features. There was the sound of something hitting the floor.

Caroline turned around to see Damon covered in blood, waves of anger lashing out towards Tyler with flared nostrils. The makeshift stake lay discarded on the floor.

Caroline thought she was seeing things.

"What..you just..and now you're?"

Damon stepped forwards, he wasn't really paying attention to Caroline, and the look Damon was giving Tyler made his skin crawl.

Caroline moved away from him.

"Damon?"

Tyler asked, wide eyed.

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"The one and only."

In a flash he had Tyler by the shoulders.

"Time to go for a walkies Tyler."

Damon bounded up the stairs and was by the door in an instant. He threw the door open and threw Tyler out. He landed in a pile on the floor outside, a couple of metres away from the witch house. Tyler leapt up immediately.

"You need me Damon! Caroline needs me!"

"Have a nice life Tyler." Damon said, and shut the door. Tyler hit it, banging on the other side. Damon threw it open and knocked Tyler backwards.

"If you ever come near me again.."

"You'll what?" Tyler laughed. "Kill me? Elena wouldn't let you get close enough."

"Don't you talk about Elena to me."

Damon's eyes flashed, and he slammed the door in the were-wolf's face.

It was a minute before Tyler gave up. He jumped off the porch, and walked off, fists clenched at anger for Damon. He felt his wolf form rising up inside of him, but he swallowed it down. He ran as fast as he could to the trees that surrounded the house. Tyler needed to cool off, go back to his old self. He didn't know why he done what he did, but Tyler didn't like people talking about his Uncle like that. When he got half-way, something started beeping. Tyler stopped. His phone. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the called ID. Unknown.

Tyler frowned and answered the call.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Who's calling?"

There was muffled noise from the other end of the phone.

"Hey Tyler."

The voice that answered made Tyler stop in his tracks. The voice he recognised. But it didn't sound familiar. It sounded cold, cruel, taunting.

"Stefan?"

There was a laugh from the other end of the line.

"You guessed it." He said.

Tyler felt shocked.

"Why are you calling? What do you want?" He asked, and hoped his voice wasn't shaking.

"Can I not just call an old friend without any selfish reasons?" Stefan asked rhetorically. Tyler didn't answer. It was weird hearing Stefan as the bad guy, it had always been Damon.

Stefan carried on talking.

"I heard you had a little bust up with my brother."

Tyler cringed. Was Stefan calling to tell him off?

Tyler stayed cool.

"How'd you know?"

He huffed.

"Witches know a lot of things."

Stefan answered.

"But we have a little proposition for you, Tyler."

Tyler frowned.

"Who's we?"

There was further muffled noise from the other end of the phone, and then another voice answered.

"Me and Stefan. Have you got a problem with that?"

Tyler nearly dropped the phone. Klaus. Why the heck was Klaus calling him?

"Klaus. What's going on?"

Tyler asked, voice shaking.

"Ever felt like you don't belong, Tyler? That no one listens to you or respects you?"

Klaus asked, voice alluring and persuasive.

Tyler felt anger stirring inside of him.

"Ever felt so angry? So mad, that no one understands you?"

"How would you know how I'm feeling?"

Tyler grumbled.

Klaus laughed.

"Because, Tyler, I understand you. I know what it feels like to be rejected by everyone you love."

Tyler listened to what the were-pire had to say. He could hear his good self yelling at him to drop the phone and run back to Damon and Caroline, but another part of him told him to ignore it.

"What's the proposition?"

Tyler asked.

He could practically hear the smile in Klaus' voice.

"That's my boy." He said. "How about a spot of _revenge_?"

Tyler felt something rising inside of him, like longing for the wild by his wolf-like self, for someone who was like him to understand him.

"You're asking me to go against my friends?"

Tyler asked.

Klaus laughed.

"Okay, I'll ask you something else. How about a little vacation?"

**A/N:**

**Sorry I took so long to update! So what do you think of the new chapter? Will Tyler have revenge against Damon, and will he go away with Klaus? Wait and see! - Leahlovessalvatore124**


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